JEDDAH: Qatar and Saudi equities were expected to be the strongest performers this year. UAE's financial professionals are more confident in the economic growth of the UAE than their counterparts elsewhere in the Middle East region with as much as 52 percent of the UAE's CFA charter holders and members expect 2011 to be a year of economic growth, compared to 39 percent for the rest of the Middle East, according to the findings of the first Middle East market sentiment survey 2011 released by the CFA Institute and CFA Middle East Societies. Further, as muchc of the CFA charter holders and members in the UAE are confident of the growth for their business this year than their Middle East counterparts (43 percent), the survey showed. The survey is based on the feedback from nearly 200 of the top financial analysts and investment professionals in the Middle East region that included all GCC countries, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. Ninety three percent of the respondents believe all three UAE stock exchanges should merge as this will encourage greater trading volumes and liquidity as well as greater visibility to international investors, the survey found. Further, despite the political, environmental and economic troubles seen around the region and the world, most respondents believe equities will be the best performing asset class this year followed by commodities. Equities in Qatar are expected to be the strongest performers, followed by Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, while Bahrain remains the most pessimistic equity market with the majority of respondents (74 percent) anticipating negative or flat growth this year. This is followed by Dubai (59 percent) and Kuwait (56 percent). However, the GCC remains a more optimistic region than the wider Middle East. Negativity is highest in Egypt where 74 percent of respondents estimate that the local equity market will see negative or flat growth this year.
