Global equity markets recorded one of the worst weekly losses in over a decade amid growing concerns that the coronavirus outbreak in China is escalating into a global pandemic. Economic activity is already witnessing negative effects with several companies lowering guidance for Q1 2020 including the likes of Microsoft, Apple and MasterCard.
Bond yields resulted in all-time lows during the week as investors are rotating into bonds for safety coupled with rising expectations of the US Fed lowering rates in its upcoming meeting to offset rising negative effects from the outbreak. Brent crude oil witnessed a steep decline of 13.64% during the week, its biggest weekly drop since 2008, as the demand outlook remains gloomy.
For the MENA region, all the 8 indexes closed in red for the week, following the sentiment in the global markets. Dubai was the worst performer regionally with losses of 5.39%, followed by 5.19% in Egypt and 4.73% in Saudi Arabia.
Going forward, global equity markets will continue to remain under pressure; however, a technical pull back can’t be ruled out in the coming week. Investors might not be able to time the bottom and instead should focus on maintaining a disciplined approach to withstand the rising uncertainty. For the regional markets, trading activity during the coming weeks will be dominated by sentiments in the global markets.
| Indexes | Last | WTD (%) | MTD (%) | YTD (%) | |
| Dubai (DFMGI) | ▼ | 2,590.00 | -5.39% | -7.18% | -6.32% |
| Abu Dhabi (ADSMI) | ▼ | 4,901.43 | -2.62% | -4.94% | -3.43% |
| Saudi (SASEIDX) | ▼ | 7,628.34 | -4.73% | -7.50% | -9.07% |
| Kuwait (KWSE) | ▼ | 4,769.33 | -1.38% | -3.11% | -2.88% |
| Egypt (EGX30) | ▼ | 13,008.94 | -5.19% | -6.54% | -6.82% |
| Bahrain (BHSEIDX) | ▼ | 1,660.48 | -0.49% | 0.17% | 3.12% |
| Oman (MSM30) | ▼ | 4,130.91 | -1.45% | 1.27% | 3.76% |
| Commodities | Value | WTD (%) | MTD (%) | YTD (%) | |
| Gold (s/OZ) | ▼ | 1584.74 | -3.56% | -0.32% | 4.46% |
| Silver ($/Oz) | ▼ | 16.66 | -9.76% | -7.60% | -6.55% |
| WTI ($/bbl) | ▼ | 44.76 | -16.15% | -13.19% | -26.70% |
| Natural Gas | ▼ | 1.68 | -11.60% | -8.53% | -23.07% |
| OPEC Oil ($/bl) | ▼ | 50.52 | -13.64% | -13.14% | -23.45% |
| Copper ($/MT) | ▼ | 5550.73 | -2.82% | -0.98% | -10.47% |
| Aluminium ($/MT) | ▼ | 1667 | -2.26% | -3.45% | -8.53% |
| FX Rates | Value | WTD (%) | MTD (%) | YTD (%) | |
| USD/AED | ▲ | 3.6728 | 0.00% | 0.01% | 0.00% |
| USD/SAR | ▲ | 3.7514 | 0.01% | -0.01% | 0.02% |
| USD/EGP | ▲ | 15.595 | 0.55% | -0.98% | -2.53% |
| USD/EUR | ▼ | 0.9068 | -1.64% | 0.61% | 1.69% |
| USD/JPY | ▼ | 108.07 | -3.14% | -0.29% | -0.50% |
