Gulf’s oil cash pouring into stocks

Gulf Arab investors are pouring liquidity from soaring oil prices into equities, with at least a dozen initial public offerings and rights issues ready to hit the region’s market shortly, experts say.
The new issues are likely to mobilise some $3.1 billion this year compared to less than a billion in 2003, according to analysts.

It is estimated that by the end of 2005, some $9 billion will be raised through several initial public offerings (IPOs) in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The high oil prices over the past three years have brought a lot of revenues into the region, and this high domestic liquidity is looking for investment opportunities that are coming in the form of equities,” Ziad Dabbas, who heads the capital markets group of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), said.

Aljazeera.net