GCC markets continued to follow global cues in June, losing 1 percent versus a drop of 11 percent in May, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) said on Thursday. All GCC markets saw another month of declines, except Qatar which gained 1.68 percent; losses were led by a 7.45 percent decline on the DFM (Dubai). Saudi Arabia saw the least decline, 0.44 percent, as three blue chips saw substantial monthly gains thereby mitigating the effect of SABIC and Al Rajhi Bank's losses. Crude oil gained 2 percent after tumbling 15 percent in May. Investors booked profits ahead of Q2 corporate earnings announcements. Liquidity was down across the GCC in June, as volume and value traded declined 11 percent and 24 percent, respectively. In terms of volume, all markets, excluding Bahrain, saw declines, the highest being a 42 percent decline in Qatar. In terms of value traded, UAE and Qatar led the way with declines of 30 percent each. Volatility was down in all markets, with Qatar MVX declining 47 percent, the least decline among GCC markets was 15 percent in Dubai. Pan-GCC MVX doubled in Q2 led by substantial increases in April and May. Moreover, Markaz said world markets remained in the red as continued economic uncertainty in Europe, a slowing recovery in the US and troubles in China weighed on world markets. MSCI World lost 3 percent in June after tumbling 10 percent in May, taking the YTD loss to 9 percent. On a market cap weighted basis, the US was the largest contributor with a loss of 2.8 percent. Monthly returns remained negative across the board led by Shanghai's loss of 8 percent for June; the market is down 25 percent for the year. India managed a gain of 4 percent for the month. The CBOE VIX index, as a result of the volatility of market returns, was up another 8 percent in June after spiking 45 percent in May.
