Executive Summary
GCC markets ended the month of August in negative territory, losing 5.8% for the month, affected by the weakening of oil prices amidst growing concerns surrounding the U.S.-China trade war. Except Oman, all other GCC markets registered a decline in August. Despite a fall of 2.9% during the month, Kuwait continues to be the best performing market in the GCC region during 2019 with YTD gain of 21.3% at the end of August. The MSCI EM status has brought the regional markets closer to the global markets and are therefore more responsive to global market movements. Globally, MSCI World index yielded negative returns of 2.2% while U.S. S&P 500 declined by 1.8%.
