Riyadh – Mubasher: The REIT traded values in the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) started to stabilise after being highly volatile from January to May, Al Rajhi Capital reported.

The traded value of three listed REITs reached as high as 20% of the total Tadawul traded value on some trading days.

“We continue to believe the current high interest in REITs likely points to investors’ inclination towards assets with stable yields in the current environment,” the report said.

Saudi mutual funds (MFs) continue to gain market ownership, where they gained 240 base points (bps) market ownership in just the last one year, to rise from 3.2% in May 2016 to 5.6% in May 2017.

Qualified Foreign Institutional investors (QFI) ownership remains low at just 0.34% at the end of May 2017, but it still represents a significant jump from 0.12% level at the end of February 2017, Al Rajhi stated.

MSCI decision to place Saudi stocks in watch-list will be a trigger for faster ramp up in QFI ownership going forward and is likely to be released on 20 June 2017

Al Rajhi Capital noted that the sectors with high interest from costumers were banks, consumer oriented/ defensive sectors such as retailing, food, healthcare, and also REITs.