Al-Shal: Muscat Stock Exchange recorded highest liquidity increase in the first half

The “Shaal” report stated that total liquidity across the seven Gulf stock exchanges declined from $313.5 billion in the first half of 2025 to $307.6 billion in the first half of 2026, representing a decrease of approximately 1.9%.

According to the report’s details, most of this decline stemmed from a sharp drop in liquidity in the Saudi market, although its percentage decrease was not the highest. Additional declines were recorded in the liquidity of the Bahrain and Kuwait stock exchanges, to a lesser extent in the Abu Dhabi market, while the other three exchanges saw an increase in liquidity.

The highest relative increase in liquidity was recorded by the Muscat Stock Exchange, rising by approximately 654.8% compared to the first half of 2025, with its index achieving the region’s highest gains at around 27.9%.

On the other hand, liquidity in the Bahrain stock exchange fell by approximately 77.8%, with its index declining by about 1.2%, marking the smallest losses in the region. This was followed by the Kuwait stock exchange, where liquidity dropped by 22.2% and its index fell by 2.3%.

Finally, the Abu Dhabi market ranked fourth in terms of relative liquidity decline, at approximately 4.6%, with its index following the same trajectory and recording losses of about 1.9%.

This indicates that four markets in the region showed alignment between liquidity movements and index movements, while three markets diverged, with their liquidity trends moving in the opposite direction of their index trends.