MSCI continues to drive markets

ENAR

Modest gains were dominant on Arab exchanges in June’s first week. Index movements in nine of the twelve markets during the week were by less than two percent — except for a renewed hike in the EGX 30 and corrections in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which were all between three and four percent. Besides Egypt’s 3.1 percent gain, seven markets moved up, but for six of them, the range of advance was between 0.1 and 1 percent. Beirut and Casablanca joined Abu Dhabi and Doha in moving down. Emerging players The impact of the transition of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar from frontier to emerging markets status in the MSCI once again — but possibly for the last time for some while — was the most visible driver of index developments in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The QE General Index closed the week 3.4 percent lower, but when compared with