S&P GCC Composite Index Rises 3.84 Percent in August 2026
The S&P GCC Composite price return index rose 3.84 percent in August 2026, while its total return version, which includes dividends, rose 4.32 percent over the same month, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices’ own month end index data.
Two Versions of the Same Index
S&P Dow Jones Indices publishes the S&P GCC Composite in two forms. The price return version tracks price movement alone, while the total return version reinvests dividends paid by the underlying Gulf Cooperation Council listed companies. The total return figure of 4.32 percent exceeded the price return figure of 3.84 percent by 0.48 percentage points in August, on our calculation, a gap that reflects the contribution of reinvested dividends captured by the total return index but excluded from the price return version.
August Erases a Year to Date Loss
The price return version’s year to date gain through August stood at just 2.28 percent, even after August’s own 3.84 percent monthly gain. On our calculation, working back from those two figures, the index was down by approximately 1.5 percent on a price return basis over the first seven months of 2026. August’s rally therefore did double duty: it delivered the month’s own gain and pulled the full year into positive territory at the same time.
A Saudi and Financials Heavy Benchmark
The same index data, as of August 31, 2026, show why a single market can move the composite so much. Saudi Arabia accounts for 56.7 percent of the index by weight across 244 constituent companies, more than the other five Gulf Cooperation Council markets combined.
| Country | Constituents | Index Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 244 | 56.7% |
| United Arab Emirates | 77 | 22.0% |
| Kuwait | 49 | 10.6% |
| Qatar | 38 | 8.1% |
| Oman | 15 | 1.9% |
| Bahrain | 6 | 0.7% |
429 companies make up the index. Financials are the largest sector at 50.4 percent of the weight, and the ten largest constituent companies together account for 40.3 percent of the index, on our calculation about 1.9 times the 21.3 percent combined weight of Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain’s markets added together.
A Year of Dividends
Over the trailing 12 months, the gap between the two versions widens further. The price return index gained just 1.06 percent while the total return version gained 4.76 percent, a difference of 3.70 percentage points, on our calculation, about 7.7 times the 0.48 point gap recorded for August alone. The year to date figures show the same pattern on a shorter horizon: the total return version’s 5.62 percent year to date gain exceeded the price return version’s 2.28 percent year to date gain by 3.34 percentage points, on our calculation nearly seven times the August gap alone. The wider multi month gaps illustrate how materially reinvested dividends have contributed to Gulf Cooperation Council equity returns over these periods, compared with a single month.
Why it matters: With Saudi Arabia at 56.7 percent of the index and financials the largest sector at 50.4 percent, the S&P GCC Composite is heavily influenced by Saudi equities and by financial stocks, on our reading, rather than representing six Gulf Cooperation Council markets in balance. International investors using it to track Gulf equities collectively are, in practice, tracking a benchmark that leans heavily on one market and one sector.
Outlook: Month end index tables update on a rolling basis, with the next full reading, covering September 2026, due at the start of October 2026.
Sources: S&P Dow Jones Indices.
