Middle East Market Wrap 1 September: Egyptian equities lead with the EGX 30 up 1.03 percent as 6 of 9 regional benchmarks rise
Egypt led the region on Tuesday, with the EGX 70 EWI rising 2.03 percent to 21,318.22 and the blue chip EGX 30 up 1.03 percent to 55,431.29. Across the region 6 of the 9 headline market benchmarks rose, a reversal from Monday, when 8 of the same 9 fell. The simple average across those 9 benchmarks moved from minus 0.26 percent on Monday to plus 0.21 percent on Tuesday, a swing of 0.47 percentage points, on our calculation.
The recovery was not evenly shared. Saudi Arabia’s main market, Abu Dhabi and Dubai all finished lower, and the spread from the strongest gauge on this board to the weakest widened to 2.45 percentage points, from the EGX 70 EWI at plus 2.03 percent to the MSCI Tadawul 30 at minus 0.41 percent, on our calculation.
Egypt’s Broader Gauges Beat Its Blue Chips
All 3 Egyptian indices rose, and the equal weighted gauges beat the large cap benchmark by a wide margin. The EGX 70 EWI added 2.03 percent and the EGX 100 EWI 1.73 percent, against 1.03 percent for the EGX 30, a gap of 1.00 percentage point between the EGX 70 and the EGX 30, on our calculation. The EGX 70 EWI covers a separate universe of active stocks from outside the EGX 30 and weights every constituent equally, so what the spread shows is that the EGX 70 constituent universe materially outperformed the EGX 30. It is a comparison between 2 different constituent lists rather than a direct measure of how many shares rose.
On Monday the same 3 indices had moved the other way and in the opposite order, with the EGX 30 down 0.13 percent while the EGX 70 EWI fell 2.06 percent, so Tuesday reversed both the direction and the ranking.
Saudi Arabia Splits Between Its Main Market and the Parallel Market
The Tadawul All Share Index eased 0.24 percent to 11,100.74 and the MSCI Tadawul 30, which tracks 30 of the largest and most liquid securities on the Saudi Exchange, fell 0.41 percent to 1,493.19. The Nomu Parallel Market rose 0.45 percent to 21,846.16. That is a gap of 0.69 percentage points between the parallel market and the main market, and 0.87 percentage points between the parallel market and the large cap gauge, on our calculation. Within the main market itself the direction was consistent: the all share index and the large cap index both fell, 0.18 percentage points apart.
Nomu is a separate parallel market with lighter listing requirements and access restricted to qualified investors, not a broader reading of the main board, so its gain is not the same measurement as Egypt’s equal weighted indices beating the EGX 30. What the 2 comparisons have in common is narrower: in both countries a gauge outside the principal large cap benchmark outperformed on the session. They are not equivalent measures. Elsewhere the segments moved together. In Kuwait the Premier Market, which carries the largest companies, added 0.09 percent against 0.07 percent for the Kuwait All Share, and in Qatar the QE Index and the QE All Share finished fractionally apart, less than half of one hundredth of a percentage point.
Qatar Leads the Gulf, and Crude Rises Again
The QE Index rose 0.47 percent to 9,852.83, the best performing Gulf headline benchmark of the session, with the QE All Share up 0.46 percent. Bahrain All Share added 0.24 percent, the MSX 30 in Oman 0.09 percent and the Kuwait All Share 0.07 percent. The ASE Index in Jordan rose 0.58 percent to 4,023.63.
Three of the 9 headline benchmarks fell. The FTSE ADX General Index was the weakest of those 9 at minus 0.33 percent, closing at 9,974.41, the Tadawul All Share lost 0.24 percent, and the DFM General Index finished close to unchanged at 5,834.25, down 0.03 percent, a decline of 1.75 points. The lowest row on the full board was the MSCI Tadawul 30, which is a comparison gauge rather than one of the 9.
Crude was higher again in intraday trade. West Texas Intermediate was quoted at 87.92 dollars a barrel, up 2.52 percent on Monday’s settlement, and Brent at 92.31 dollars, up 2.01 percent, in a snapshot taken before Tuesday’s settlement windows. Both had risen sharply on Monday as well.
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| EGX 70 EWI (Egypt) | 21,318.22 | +2.03% |
| EGX 100 EWI (Egypt) | 27,735.23 | +1.73% |
| EGX 30 (Egypt) | 55,431.29 | +1.03% |
| ASE Index (Jordan) | 4,023.63 | +0.58% |
| QE Index (Qatar) | 9,852.83 | +0.47% |
| QE All Share (Qatar) | 3,867.89 | +0.46% |
| Nomu Parallel Market (Saudi Arabia) | 21,846.16 | +0.45% |
| Bahrain All Share (Bahrain) | 1,940.67 | +0.24% |
| Premier Market (Kuwait) | 9,297.00 | +0.09% |
| MSX 30 (Oman) | 7,610.998 | +0.09% |
| Kuwait All Share (Kuwait) | 8,903.72 | +0.07% |
| DFM General (Dubai) | 5,834.25 | -0.03% |
| Tadawul All Share (Saudi Arabia) | 11,100.74 | -0.24% |
| FTSE ADX General (Abu Dhabi) | 9,974.41 | -0.33% |
| MSCI Tadawul 30 (Saudi Arabia) | 1,493.19 | -0.41% |
Closes for Tuesday 1 September 2026, ranked by change. Source: each index’s own exchange. The Premier Market and the MSX 30 both round to plus 0.09 percent and are ranked on their unrounded values. The count of 6 of 9 rising uses 1 headline benchmark per market: the Tadawul All Share, Kuwait All Share, QE Index, Bahrain All Share, MSX 30, ASE Index, EGX 30, FTSE ADX General and DFM General. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are counted as 2 separate market benchmarks within the same country, so the 9 cover 8 countries. The remaining rows are additional segment or comparison gauges. The Amman Stock Exchange and the Egyptian Exchange publish a percentage but not a points change; the Saudi Exchange reading was taken only after its market status label had moved past the closing auction.
| Contract | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| WTI Crude, NYMEX (Oct’26), dollars a barrel | $87.92 | +2.52% |
| Brent Crude, ICE (Nov’26), dollars a barrel | $92.31 | +2.01% |
| Gold, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $4,421.80 | -1.33% |
| Natural Gas, NYMEX (Oct’26), dollars a million Btu | $2.883 | -1.77% |
| Silver, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $65.61 | -2.06% |
Intraday quotes captured in a single call at 12:38 GMT on 1 September 2026, before the settlement windows. Percentages are ours, computed from each contract’s level against the previous session’s settlement, so each is settlement to snapshot rather than settlement to settlement. Silver is quoted on the December contract after the September contract entered its delivery period on 31 August; December carried 87,781 lots of open interest against 2,627 in October at that settlement, per CME Group. Brent is quoted on November while West Texas Intermediate is still on October, so the 2 are not a like for like pair.
| Instrument | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| ICE US Dollar Index | 99.621 | +0.19% |
| Euro, CBK official rate, fils per euro | 356.386 | +0.13% |
| US dollar, CBK official rate, fils per dollar | 307.150 | 0.00% |
| Japanese yen, CBK official rate, fils per yen | 1.9215 | -0.02% |
| Pound sterling, CBK official rate, fils per pound | 415.850 | -0.02% |
| CBE Exchange Rate, buy, pounds per dollar | 50.8671 | 1 September 2026 |
| CBE Exchange Rate, sell, pounds per dollar | 51.0054 | 1 September 2026 |
Central Bank of Kuwait official rates for 1 September 2026 and Central Bank of Egypt Exchange Rates for the same date; the dollar index is an intraday quote from the same 12:38 GMT capture. Percentages on the Kuwaiti rates are ours, computed from each rate and its published daily change. The 2 Egyptian rows carry their date rather than a percentage because they are official reference rates, not traded levels.
Elsewhere, Most Recent Completed Sessions
Asian markets completed their Tuesday session before this capture, so the table below carries Tuesday 1 September. Continental European exchanges were still trading and United States markets had not yet opened, so those 2 tables carry Monday 31 August, the most recently completed session in each region.
Asia, 1 September close, for reference
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Taiex (Taiwan) | 46,948.72 | +1.78% |
| Topix (Japan) | 4,181.86 | +0.62% |
| Kospi (South Korea) | 6,835.80 | +0.23% |
| Nifty 50 (India) | 24,055.80 | -0.10% |
| S&P/ASX 200 (Australia) | 9,066.70 | -0.10% |
| Nikkei 225 (Japan) | 66,215.34 | -0.15% |
| Shanghai Composite (China) | 3,979.89 | -0.16% |
| Straits Times (Singapore) | 5,710.37 | -0.78% |
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 25,329.73 | -0.93% |
| Shenzhen Component (China) | 13,872.38 | -1.02% |
Carried verbatim from our Asia Market Wrap covering the 1 September 2026 session.
Europe, 31 August close, for reference
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| PSI 20 (Portugal) | 9,437.18 | +0.08% |
| FTSE MIB (Italy) | 52,612.69 | -0.01% |
| IBEX 35 (Spain) | 19,974.10 | -0.34% |
| AEX (Netherlands) | 1,105.77 | -0.59% |
| BEL 20 (Belgium) | 5,834.28 | -0.59% |
| Stoxx Europe 600 (Europe) | 651.10 | -0.62% |
| OMXS30 (Sweden) | 3,309.18 | -0.66% |
| CAC 40 (France) | 8,334.50 | -0.79% |
| SMI (Switzerland) | 14,286.43 | -0.79% |
| Euro Stoxx 50 (euro area) | 6,420.16 | -1.01% |
| DAX (Germany), Xetra close | 26,258.11 | -1.17% |
Carried verbatim from our Europe Market Wrap covering the 31 August 2026 session. The FTSE 100 is absent because the London Stock Exchange was closed for the Summer Bank Holiday and held no session.
United States, 31 August close, for reference
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq 100 | 29,456.97 | +0.08% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 26,370.89 | -0.12% |
| S&P 500 | 7,686.14 | -0.33% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,956.45 | -0.54% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 53,185.90 | -0.70% |
Carried verbatim from our US Market Wrap covering the 31 August 2026 session.
Why It Matters
A regional board that was 8 of 9 lower on Monday and 6 of 9 higher on Tuesday has not settled into a direction, and no single regional catalyst was reported for the swing. What the session does show is where the movement sat within each market. In Egypt the equal weighted indices beat the blue chip benchmark by 1.00 percentage point, and in Saudi Arabia the Nomu Parallel Market rose while both gauges of the main market fell, a gap of 0.69 percentage points against the all share index, on our calculation. In both countries a gauge outside the principal large cap benchmark outperformed, though the 2 comparisons are not measuring the same thing.
Whether that persists is the question worth carrying forward, because the relative performance is visible in the indices themselves without requiring an assumption about investor flows. The index moves alone do not establish which investor groups drove the outperformance, so no attribution to particular buyers is made here.
Crude remains an important cross market variable in the background. Prices were higher again in intraday trade after a sharp rise on Monday, which matters on both sides of this board: the region contains large energy exporters and large energy importers, and a sustained move reaches their public finances and their equity markets through different channels. Two sessions do not establish a direction, and Tuesday’s quotes are pre settlement.
Outlook
The immediate question is whether Egypt’s relative outperformance persists, and whether it is accompanied by broad participation across individual shares. The EGX 70 EWI leading the EGX 30 by a full percentage point shows relative performance between 2 different constituent universes; it does not measure market breadth by itself. In Saudi Arabia the test is whether the main market steadies, since the Tadawul All Share has now fallen in consecutive sessions while the parallel market has reversed from a 0.11 percent decline on Monday to a 0.45 percent gain on Tuesday. For the Gulf as a whole, crude is the variable to watch, and Tuesday’s settlements will show whether the intraday gains held.
Sources: Saudi Exchange, Tadawul All Share, MSCI Tadawul 30 and Nomu Parallel Market closes and market status label; Boursa Kuwait, Kuwait All Share and Premier Market; Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, FTSE ADX General; Dubai Financial Market, DFM General from the exchange’s own Daily Closing Value table; Qatar Stock Exchange, QE Index and QE All Share from its dated trading report; Bahrain Bourse, Bahrain All Share; Muscat Stock Exchange, MSX 30; Amman Stock Exchange, ASE Index and daily sectors bulletin; Egyptian Exchange, EGX 30, EGX 70 EWI and EGX 100 EWI; Central Bank of Kuwait, official exchange rates for 1 September 2026; Central Bank of Egypt, Exchange Rates for 1 September 2026; CME Group, silver futures settlements and open interest for 31 August 2026; CNBC, commodity and dollar index quotes captured at 12:38 GMT on 1 September 2026; The Edge, Asia Market Wrap covering 1 September 2026 and the Europe, US and Middle East Market Wraps covering 31 August 2026.
