GCC investor confidence remains strong at 127.3 points

Commenting on the Index findings Oliver Schutzmann, Chief Communications Officer of Shuaa Capital and Author of the Investor Sentiment Report, said:

"It is very encouraging to see the GCC Index on the rise once again. Investor sentiment towards the region has been consistently improving over the past six months with only one month-on-month drop since April 2009."

On the current state of GCC economies, a component of the Index, Oliver Schutzmann commented, "The improvement in the GCC Investor Confidence Index was largely driven by a positive shift in the balance of investors' perceptions of current regional economic conditions. In September this figure moved to 15.7% from 1.5% last month and -15.0% in July. The UAE and Bahrain drove this improvement, with increases of 11.7 and 19.6 points respectively. The UAE Investor Confidence Index has seen improvement thanks to higher confidence in the UAE's current state of economic conditions."

Oliver Schutzmann commented on the investor's outlook for GCC economies, "The six month investor outlook for the GCC economy is relatively unchanged on last month's 56.9%, at 54.9% in September. The GCC remains very competitive with the BRIC countries and Global Emerging markets, which recorded figures of 54.9% and 60.8% respectively. The six month economic outlook for the UAE remained unchanged this month."

Finally Oliver Schutzmann discussed regional stock markets, "When asked which exchanges would experience a 'year-end rally', investors were very positive towards the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, with 51% expecting a 'year-end rally' in the last quarter of 2009, while 23.5% are undecided and only 19.6% of investors does not expect a rally."

This month the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange is once again the most undervalued regional exchange in the eye's of investors, with a balance of respondents of 35.3%. It is a similar story across the rest of the GCC, where stock markets also remain undervalued, particularly Saudi Arabia's Tadawul and the Qatar Exchange which follow closely behind the ADX at 25.5% and 21.6% respectively. However, both the Kuwait Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Dubai are both seen to be overvalued with respective balances of -5.9% and -2%.

Relatively, the region's stock markets are seen as favourable in comparison with markets in the West. The Dow Jones 30, Eurostoxx 50 and FT-SE recorded on balance figures of -31.4%, -29.4% and -29.4% respectively.

The Shuaa GCC Investor Sentiment Report is a monthly survey which reports on the current and future expectations of the investment community towards the GCC region. Data from the report forms the Shuaa GCC Investor Confidence Index and sub-indices for all six GCC countries. The current survey was conducted between 9 and 17 September 2009. Investors were asked questions about current and future economic conditions, stock markets, sectors and commodities.

The Shuaa GCC Investor Confidence Index and its sub-indices for all six GCC countries are derived from an equal weighting of responses to four questions of the GCC Investor Sentiment Survey: current view and six months outlook on economic conditions, current view and six month outlook on equity market valuations. The Index and all sub-indices have a range between 0 and 200. A number greater than 100 represents positive sentiment while a number lower than 100 represents negative sentiment.