Financial markets in Gulf countries made historic gains last year, more than doubling their total capitalization to well over US$1 trillion, boosted by high liquidity and strong oil prices.
Market capitalization in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) went up to US$1.146 trillion at the end of last year, up by 118 percent from $526.3bn at the end of 2004, Kuwait’s Bayan Investment Co said in a recent report.
Total market value of the seven stock markets of the GCC states amounted to just $119bn in 2000, making almost a nine-fold gain during the past five years.
