Middle East Market Wrap 24 August: Saudi Arabia Leads the Gulf Higher as Egypt Slips
Middle East markets closed higher on Monday, with Saudi Arabia leading and Egypt the notable exception. The Tadawul All Share Index rose 0.86 percent to 11,174.13 and the MSCI Tadawul 30 added 1.02 percent, while Qatar gained 0.54 percent, Abu Dhabi 0.44 percent and Dubai 0.15 percent. Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan finished marginally higher, Oman slipped, and Egypt’s EGX 30 fell 0.34 percent.
Saudi Arabia set the pace. The Tadawul All Share Index closed at 11,174.13, up 95.45 points, with the MSCI Tadawul 30 at 1,505.33 and the parallel Nomu market flat at 21,645.74, per the Saudi Exchange, whose header was stamped 15:30. The Sukuk index eased 2.90 points or 0.32 percent to 903.43.
The United Arab Emirates outpaced most of the region
Abu Dhabi’s FTSE ADX General Index closed at 10,048.29, up 43.86 points or 0.44 percent, on turnover of 919.1 million dirhams and 21,690 trades, per the exchange. The FADX 15 rose 0.47 percent to 10,648.5. Dubai’s DFM General Index closed at 5,865.58, up 9.03 points or 0.15 percent, on 686.2 million dirhams of value and 14,848 trades, per the exchange.
The Abu Dhabi reading is worth stating precisely because retail data feeds routinely show the index unchanged on the day. The exchange’s own figure is a gain of 43.86 points, and that is what we carry.
Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan moved little
Boursa Kuwait’s Premier Market closed at 9,318.71, up 10.14 points or 0.11 percent, and the All-Share at 8,900.41, up 7.52 points or 0.08 percent, per the exchange. The market was not uniformly higher beneath the headline: the Main Market eased 0.03 percent to 9,105.45 and the BK Main 50 fell 0.13 percent to 10,708.32, so the advance sat with the larger names. Volume was 349.3 million shares and value 88.5 million dinars.
Bahrain’s All Share Index closed at 1,947.07, up 2.69 points or 0.14 percent, against a previous close of 1,944.38, per the bourse. Jordan’s ASE General Index ended at 4,009.75, up 0.06 percent, holding above the 4,000 mark it regained last week, per the exchange, with 45 gainers against 24 decliners.
Oman was the only Gulf decline. The MSX 30 closed at 7,501.045, down 8.312 points or 0.11 percent, on 22 advancers against 29 decliners and 20.0 million rials of turnover, per the exchange.
Egypt gave back part of Sunday’s advance
The EGX 30 closed at 55,164.84, down 185.52 points or 0.34 percent, surrendering about 30 percent of Sunday’s 1.12 percent gain. The index remains up sharply for the year.
A note on how we sourced that figure. The Egyptian Exchange’s indices page pins itself to the Shariah index and the EGX 30 tab would not switch on repeated attempts, a fault we have documented before. The level is therefore carried from a market terminal rather than read off the exchange, and it chain-checks exactly against the close we published on Sunday: 55,350.36 less 185.52 gives 55,164.84, and that change against that base is 0.34 percent.
Qatar’s QE Index closed at 9,740.64, up 52.34 points or 0.54 percent. The Qatar Stock Exchange’s own indices widget was returning zeros again, so this level is likewise carried from the terminal and chain-checked against our published Sunday close of 9,688.30, to which 52.34 gives exactly 9,740.64.
Commodities eased while gold extended its run
Oil fell through the Gulf session. ICE Brent for October traded near 93.12 dollars a barrel, down 1.35 percent, and WTI for October near 85.55 dollars, down 1.73 percent. COMEX December gold rose 0.84 percent to about 4,719.70 dollars an ounce, extending Friday’s advance and adding to a run that has carried it well above 4,700.
Currencies, rates and volatility
The dollar was mixed. The euro traded near 1.1670, down 0.08 percent, sterling was unchanged at 1.3640 and the dollar firmed slightly to 158.98 yen. The Central Bank of Kuwait quoted the dinar at 0.30670/80 to the dollar, stamped 08:00 on 24 August for value 26 August. The Central Bank of Egypt’s official rate for 24 August was 50.7590 pounds buy and 50.8974 sell.
Bitcoin rose 2.27 percent to about 79,109 dollars. The VIX gained 5.16 percent to 15.91, and the 10-year US Treasury yield was 4.708 percent, three basis points lower on the day.
For reference, Wall Street and Europe both closed higher on Friday, from the closes we published in our 21 August wrap, and Asian equities closed mostly lower on Monday, from our Asia wrap published earlier today.
| Middle East equities, 24 August close | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| MSCI Tadawul 30 (Saudi Arabia) | 1,505.33 | +1.02% |
| Tadawul All Share (Saudi Arabia) | 11,174.13 | +0.86% |
| QE Index (Qatar) | 9,740.64 | +0.54% |
| FTSE ADX General (Abu Dhabi) | 10,048.29 | +0.44% |
| DFM General (Dubai) | 5,865.58 | +0.15% |
| Bahrain All Share | 1,947.07 | +0.14% |
| Kuwait Premier Market | 9,318.71 | +0.11% |
| Kuwait All-Share | 8,900.41 | +0.08% |
| Amman ASE General (Jordan) | 4,009.75 | +0.06% |
| Nomu Parallel Market (Saudi Arabia) | 21,645.74 | 0.00% |
| MSX 30 (Oman) | 7,501.05 | -0.11% |
| EGX 30 (Egypt) | 55,164.84 | -0.34% |
| US and Europe, 21 August close, for reference | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 53,277.01 | +0.98% |
| Russell 2000 | 3,017.87 | +0.85% |
| FTSE 100 (United Kingdom) | 10,816.56 | +0.64% |
| Euro STOXX 50 (euro area) | 6,462.22 | +0.63% |
| DAX (Germany) | 26,136.56 | +0.59% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 26,180.46 | +0.43% |
| S&P 500 | 7,674.37 | +0.43% |
| CAC 40 (France) | 8,484.43 | +0.37% |
| Commodities, intraday 24 August | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| COMEX gold, December 2026 | $4,719.70 | +0.84% |
| ICE Brent crude, October 2026 | $93.12 | -1.35% |
| WTI crude, October 2026 | $85.55 | -1.73% |
| Currencies, rates, volatility and crypto, intraday 24 August | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | $79,109.00 | +2.27% |
| VIX | 15.91 | +5.16% |
| USD/JPY | 158.98 | +0.03% |
| GBP/USD | 1.3640 | unchanged |
| EUR/USD | 1.1670 | -0.08% |
| US 10-year Treasury yield | 4.708% | -3 bp |
| USD/KWD, Central Bank of Kuwait | 0.30670/80 | official quote, 24 August, value 26 August |
| USD/EGP, Central Bank of Egypt | 50.7590 buy / 50.8974 sell | official rate, value date 24 August |
Commodity, market-currency, volatility and yield levels are intraday quotes taken at 15:51 Kuwait time, not settlements or the official Treasury par yield curve. USD/KWD is the Central Bank of Kuwait’s official quote and USD/EGP the Central Bank of Egypt’s official rate; both carry a basis note rather than a percentage, so this table is not headed ranked by change.
Why it matters:
Regional markets traded through a session in which the two global inputs pointed in opposite directions. Oil fell more than a percent, a potential headwind for Gulf exporters, yet equities rose anyway, led by Saudi Arabia and with Abu Dhabi and Qatar close behind. Gulf equities rising despite weaker crude suggests equity-specific risk appetite outweighed the oil-price decline during Monday’s session.
The Kuwait internals are the detail worth keeping. A Premier Market up 0.11 percent alongside a Main Market down 0.03 percent and the BK Main 50 down 0.13 percent is a large-cap advance rather than a broad one. It echoes, in far milder form, the split we reported from Seoul and Hong Kong earlier today, though one session in Kuwait does not establish a regional pattern.
Egypt is the other side of the same coin. The EGX 30 gave back about 30 percent of Sunday’s gain, which is consistent with consolidation after a strong reopening, and the pound’s official rate held close to where the central bank set it last week.
Outlook:
Holiday closures will fragment the regional week rather than simply shorten it. The Amman Stock Exchange and Bahrain Bourse are closed on Tuesday 25 August for the Prophet’s birthday and resume on Wednesday 26 August. Boursa Kuwait is closed on Thursday 27 August and resumes on Sunday 30 August. The staggered closures mean liquidity thins at different points in the week across regional markets.
The global calendar is the heavier one, and the staggered closures decide who can respond to it. The US July personal consumption expenditures price index and the second estimate of second-quarter GDP are both released at 08:30 New York time on Wednesday 26 August, which is 15:30 in Kuwait, and Nvidia reports after the US close that evening. Kuwait cannot price either before its Thursday closure, so Boursa Kuwait absorbs both only when it reopens on Sunday 30 August. The Jackson Hole symposium then runs from 27 to 29 August, with Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh scheduled to deliver keynote remarks on Friday 28 August at 17:00 Kuwait time, which Gulf markets will absorb at their respective next openings.
Sources: the Saudi Exchange, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Dubai Financial Market, Boursa Kuwait, Bahrain Bourse, Muscat Stock Exchange and the Amman Stock Exchange for their own index closes; Bahrain Bourse and the Amman Stock Exchange for their holiday notices; the Central Bank of Kuwait for the official USD/KWD quote and the Central Bank of Egypt for the official USD/EGP rate; CNBC for commodities, currencies, the VIX and the 10-year Treasury yield; NVIDIA, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Federal Reserve Board for the calendar. The EGX 30 and QE Index levels are carried from the operator’s market terminal and chain-checked against the closes we published on 23 August, because the Egyptian Exchange’s EGX 30 tab and the Qatar Stock Exchange’s indices widget were both unreadable at the time of writing. US and Europe reference closes are from our own Market Wrap US-Europe of 21 August.
