Regional equities fare well as they look to attract foreign investors

At a time when the headlines are dominated by talk of global protectionism, it is a welcome development that this region appears to be opening itself up to foreign capital. While US equities that rallied on the arrival of Donald Trump are now turning lower as trade tensions heat up, regional equities are largely holding up on account of reforms designed to attract foreign investors into them. The Tadawul is up 10 per cent year-to-date while the Abu Dhabi Securities exchange is up 6.5 per cent and the Kuwait index by 3.5 per cent. The major global indices, however, are recording losses with the S&P 500 down 2.5 per cent and the DAX and the Nikkei having lost around 5 per cent so far this year.

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