Kuwait Stock Exchange tops Gulf markets with highest gains in first nine months of 2025

Kuwait Stock Exchange leads Gulf markets with highest gains in first nine months of 2025.

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 18: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) recorded the highest gains among the seven Gulf bourses and posted the third-highest relative increase in liquidity during the first nine months of 2025, according to a specialized economic report released Friday.

The report, issued by Al-Shall Consulting Company, revealed that Boursa Kuwait achieved a notable 19.5 percent gain in its index by the end of September compared to the same period last year. In addition, the market’s liquidity grew by approximately 89.7 percent, ranking third among the Gulf exchanges.

Despite these gains, the total liquidity across the seven Gulf stock exchanges dropped by 11.4 percent to USD 468.4 billion in the first nine months of 2025, down from USD 528.6 billion during the corresponding period of 2024. The decline was primarily attributed to a significant reduction in liquidity in the Saudi market, alongside a minor decrease in the Qatari Stock Exchange.

Muscat Stock Exchange (MSE) recorded the highest relative increase in liquidity at 204.8 percent compared to the first nine months of 2024, with its index posting the region’s second-highest gains of approximately 13.22 percent.

The Bahrain Bourse (BHB) followed with the second-highest liquidity increase of around 93.3 percent; however, its index diverged from this trend, recording losses of about 1.9 percent compared to the end of 2024.

Dubai Financial Market (DFM) ranked fourth in liquidity growth with an 83.2 percent increase, and its index closely tracked this trend, rising about 13.20 percent.

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) registered the lowest relative liquidity increase at approximately 17.2 percent, with its index gaining 6.3 percent compared to the previous year-end.

The Saudi market experienced the sharpest decline in liquidity, down nearly 31 percent, with its index suffering the steepest losses in the region at about 4.4 percent. Meanwhile, the Qatar Stock Exchange saw a 2.5 percent decrease in liquidity, with its index posting the lowest regional gains of roughly 4.6 percent.

The report highlighted that five of the Gulf markets showed consistency between liquidity trends and index movements, while two markets—Bahrain and Qatar—showed deviations from this pattern.