Arab Monetary Fund Issues the 60th Edition of the “Monthly Bulletin of Arab Capital Markets”

Arab financial markets closed trading for August 2025 with a mixed performance, largely dominated by a negative trend, contrary to the positive direction recorded by advanced financial markets. This decline is attributed to the drop in profits of listed companies, particularly in the energy and petrochemicals sectors, in addition to the effects of global geopolitical and trade tensions, and the slowdown of economic growth in some countries in the region.

The Arab Monetary Fund's composite index of Arab capital markets recorded a decline of 0.72% during August, impacted by decreases in eight Arab stock exchanges, compared to increases in six others.

In detail, the Muscat Stock Exchange led the advancing markets with a rise of 5.21%, followed by the stock exchanges of Egypt, Iraq, Casablanca, and Amman. On the other hand, the stock exchanges of Damascus, Palestine, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia experienced notable declines, with Damascus registering the largest drop of 8.84%, followed by Palestine with 5.20%.

Globally, advanced markets ended trading in August with positive performance, as the Nikkei, Dow Jones, and Standard & Poor's indices rose between 1.91% and 4.01%, despite persistent concerns over increased U.S. tariffs on imports from the European Union, India, and Brazil.

Furthermore, the decline in global energy prices, where key crude oil benchmarks dropped by up to 7.6%, put additional pressure on Arab stock market performance, especially amid increased "OPEC+" production and weakening global demand, particularly from China and the United States.

Download the full bulletin here:

https://www.amf.org.ae/ar/publications/nshrt-aswaq-almal/alnshrt-alshhryt-laswaq-almal-alrbyt-aldd-altas-walkhmswn