{"id":1556,"date":"2018-09-02T07:49:28","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T07:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euromenaenergy.com\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2018-09-02T07:49:28","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T07:49:28","slug":"saudi-bulls-retreat-as-aramco-letdown-adds-to-policy-shocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/?p=1556","title":{"rendered":"Saudi bulls retreat as Aramco letdown adds to policy shocks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Bloomberg\/Dubai<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Arab world\u2019s biggest bourse is losing its appeal to foreigners just two months after it won inclusion in MSCI Inc\u2019s emerging-market index.
\nThat\u2019s because the initial euphoria surrounding Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s efforts to overhaul the nation\u2019s economy has given way to scepticism as the kingdom put on hold the initial public offering of oil giant Aramco.
\nA dispute over Canada\u2019s criticism of the jailing of Saudi rights activists has also heightened concerns over the prince\u2019s increasingly assertive policy and the impact it would have on capital flows.
\nOverseas money managers turned net sellers of Saudi stocks in six of the past eight weeks after MSCI said it will include the country in its emerging-market equity indexes starting June 2019.
\nGlobal factors, including the roll-back of crisis-era stimulus and a global trade skirmish, have also dented demand for riskier assets.
\nThe selling in Saudi stocks by foreign investors has become more widespread, reflecting concerns \u201cabout stalling or even reversed reforms,\u201d said Marshall Stocker, a Boston-based portfolio manager at Eaton Vance Corp whose fund isn\u2019t invested in the kingdom. \u201cUntil we see a commitment to firmly adopting policies which lead to an increase in economic freedom, we doubt the Saudi Arabian equity market will outperform.\u201d
\nOverseas investors pulled a net 660.6mn riyals ($176mn) from Saudi equities in the eight weeks ended August 16.
\nIn contrast, they had poured $153mn in the eight weeks leading up to MSCI\u2019s announcement.
\nThe oil-rich kingdom\u2019s key stock index has dropped 5.8% from a peak in July, curbing its advance this year to 11%.
\nWhile its 2018 gain is considerable compared to the almost 8% drop in emerging-market stocks, the gauge is lagging measures in neighbouring Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
\nSaudi Arabia had gone to great lengths in recent months to suggest that change may now be in the air, giving women the right to drive and reopening cinemas. But in recent months, women\u2019s-rights activists have been imprisoned and prosecutors are currently seeking to behead Israa al-Ghomgham, who participated in anti-government protests in the eastern part of the country. Then there\u2019s the kingdom\u2019s clash with Canada.
\nSaudi Arabia froze diplomatic ties and new business deals with the North American nation this month for criticising its treatment of women activists. The decision to shelve Aramco\u2019s IPO \u2013 billed as potentially the world\u2019s biggest \u2013 in part reflects the kingdom\u2019s much stronger fiscal position, given the government\u2019s spending reform and rise in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bloomberg\/Dubai The Arab world\u2019s biggest bourse is losing its appeal to foreigners just two months after it won inclusion in MSCI Inc\u2019s emerging-market index. That\u2019s because the initial euphoria surrounding Crown Prince…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46,57,90,96,107,137,139,160,174,184,201,202,209,232,233,244,246,249,256,267,277,279,288],"class_list":["post-1556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aramco","tag-baroudi","tag-democracy","tag-doha","tag-embargo","tag-gas","tag-gazprom","tag-international-maritime-disputes","tag-lebanon","tag-maritime-disputes","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-opec","tag-putin","tag-qatar","tag-rosneft","tag-roudi","tag-russia","tag-saudi","tag-straddling-hydrocarbons-reserves","tag-total","tag-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}