Following Saudi Arabia’s opening of its near $600 billion stock market to direct foreign investment, Goldman Sachs — which advises clients on over $1 trillion in investment — has applied to own and trade Saudi Arabian stocks, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.
Goldman is seeking a qualified foreign investor permit from the Capital Markets Authority of Saudi Arabia, according to the report.
HSBC was among the first qualified foreign investors to trade Saudi Arabian shares last month following the relaxed restrictions on foreign investment as the nation looks to diversify its $752 billion economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenue.
Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s largest economy, and the world’s largest oil-exporting nation, has a stock market worth more than the other major Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets combined.
Saudi Arabia Opens Up $585B Stock Market To Direct Foreign Investment http://t.co/kfCEGeCnF9 $GULF $MES
— EMerging Equity (@ETFalpha) June 15, 2015
Sebastien Lieblich, a executive director of index research at MSCI, told The Wall Street Journal in May that Saudi Arabia would likely be reclassified as an emerging market following the opening of its stock market to foreign investors.
Saudi Arabia, given the size of its market, will “most probably be classified as an emerging market” post review, Lieblich said.
Saudi Arabia Likely To Be Classified As An Emerging Market, MSCI Says http://t.co/pHPcyyusyj pic.twitter.com/poNtl5CsDW
— EMerging Equity (@EM_Equity) May 8, 2015
Foreign investment in Saudi Arabia’s stock market could surge to $28 billion by mid-2017, from around $7 billion in June, according to estimates last month from Deutsche Bank.
So far this year, Saudi stocks have risen around 12 percent, compared to an increase of around 6.3 percent for the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index and a 1.8 percent loss for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Reblogged this on ricardocberriosdotcom and commented:
This financial development will have a myriad of corolary repercussions in multiple sectors with advanced technology innovation that will start permeating the Saudi society in the following years. Great prospect for positive social advances will come associated with this although taking into account very local idiosincracies of social interactions,
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Posted by ricardocberrios | July 22, 2015, 7:22 pm