Middle East Market Wrap 20 September: Every Index on the Board Falls as Qatar Leads Down 1.12 Percent
Every index on the Middle East board closed lower on Sunday, the first Sunday on which every index on the board has fallen since the series began on 23 August. Qatar’s QE Index led the fall at 1.12 percent, Kuwait’s All Share followed at 0.73 percent, and the remaining 5 markets each gave up 0.30 percent or less. Nothing rose. The board was uniformly red, but the damage was not evenly spread.
Qatar and Kuwait do the falling
The QE Index closed at 9,550.44, down 108.57 points or 1.12 percent on our calculation against our published Thursday close, on value traded of 326.1 million riyals. It was the largest single move on the board by a wide margin, more than 4 times the median fall of 0.26 percent.
Kuwait’s All Share closed at 8,848.06, down 65.10 points or 0.73 percent. The Premier Market index fell 0.67 percent and the BK Main 50 fell 1.81 percent, so selling pressure was materially heavier in the main market segment than among the Premier Market’s larger companies.
The rest of the board barely moved
Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share closed at 10,749.51, down 28.43 points or 0.26 percent. Muscat’s MSX 30 slipped 23.095 points or 0.30 percent to 7,580.135, with 19 advancers against 32 decliners on the exchange’s own count and turnover of 31.8 million rials. Bahrain’s All Share eased 3.96 points or 0.21 percent to 1,920.07 on 82 trades worth 269,278 dinars, the smallest fall of the day. Amman’s ASE Index closed at 4,115.50, down 0.22 percent.
Egypt’s EGX 30 ended at 55,371.47, down 127.25 points or 0.23 percent on the exchange’s own figure, with 78 gainers against 132 decliners and 11 unchanged across the listed market.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai trade Monday to Friday and were shut. They completed their week on Friday in opposite directions, the FTSE ADX General up 110.92 points or 1.09 percent to 10,271.76 and the DFM General down 0.49 percent to 5,957.23, each on its own exchange’s figures. Both return on Monday.
Top gainers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nil |
Top gainers, closes of Sunday 20 September, from the exchanges, ranked by change. No index on the board rose; all 7 that traded fell and are ranked in the losers table below.
Top losers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Bahrain All Share (Bahrain) | 1,920.07 | -0.21% |
| ASE Index (Jordan) | 4,115.50 | -0.22% |
| EGX 30 (Egypt) | 55,371.47 | -0.23% |
| Tadawul All Share (Saudi Arabia) | 10,749.51 | -0.26% |
| MSX 30 (Oman) | 7,580.14 | -0.30% |
| Kuwait All Share (Kuwait) | 8,848.06 | -0.73% |
| QE Index (Qatar) | 9,550.44 | -1.12% |
Top losers, same session and basis, ranked by change; every change reconciles against our published Thursday 17 September closes. The Qatari, Jordanian and Kuwaiti percentages are our calculation against those closes; the Omani, Bahraini and Egyptian figures are the exchanges’ own. The Saudi close and change are as read on a market terminal, the Saudi Exchange website having been unreachable, and reconcile exactly against our published Thursday close of 10,777.94.
Official reference rates
| Rate | Level | Date |
|---|---|---|
| CBK dollar/dinar, official reference | 0.30735 | 20 September 2026, value date 22 September 2026 |
| CBE Exchange Rate, dollar/Egyptian pound, buy / sell | 51.9520 / 52.0911 | 20 September 2026 |
Dated official fixings from the Central Bank of Kuwait and the Central Bank of Egypt; the CBK value date is standard T plus 2 settlement and the dinar rate was unchanged on the day. The pound pair is the CBE Exchange Rate from the central bank’s statistics page, which is a different series from the average client rate the bank publishes alongside it.
Why it matters: A board on which nothing rises is rarer than it sounds, and the interesting part is where the selling actually landed. Of the 7 indices that traded, 5 finished inside a band of 9 basis points, between falls of 0.21 percent and 0.30 percent. The real divergence sits in 2 markets. Qatar’s 1.12 percent fall is more than 4 times the median and came on the first session of the week. Kuwait’s 0.73 percent headline understates what happened underneath it, where the BK Main 50 lost 1.81 percent against 0.67 percent in the Premier Market. Bahrain’s All Share held up best at a fall of 0.21 percent and Qatar’s QE Index lagged at 1.12 percent.
Outlook: The question for Monday is whether the falls in Qatar and Kuwait converge with the much smaller moves elsewhere or pull the rest of the board towards them. Abu Dhabi and Dubai rejoin after their Friday sessions, which widens the sample. In Egypt the Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday with the overnight deposit rate at 19.00 percent, one of the clearest scheduled regional catalysts of the week.
Sources: Boursa Kuwait, Qatar Stock Exchange, Bahrain Bourse, Muscat Stock Exchange, Amman Stock Exchange, Egyptian Exchange, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Dubai Financial Market, Central Bank of Kuwait, Central Bank of Egypt, The Edge.
