In order to meet clients’ demands to trade shares of companies anywhere, at a faster pace, across different asset classes and for less money, stock markets around the world are under a great deal of pressure to merge or buy stakes in each other. The seven stock markets in the Gulf, which had a combined capitalization of $995 billion before the onset of market turmoil that took place last month, appear to be feeling this pressure too, as there is a great deal of talk about a GCC common market and a unified currency amongst the Gulf states. This evolution is important for the Gulf to secure its place in the complex, elaborately interwoven web of global stock exchanges. With the exception of the UAE, which has two stock markets, one in Dubai and another in Abu Dhabi, each GCC country hosts a single stock exchange, all of which are
