Saudi trades in US equities fall 69% to SAR 14.4 bln in Q4 2022

US stock trading hall

Saudi investors executed sell and buy transactions on US equities at a total value of SAR 14.4 billion through capital market institutions in Q4 2022, a year-on-year (YoY) fall of SAR 31.8 billion, or 69%.

These are the lowest Saudi trades in US equities since Q4 2019, when they reached SAR 13.6 billion.

The US stock market suffered its biggest annual loss since the global financial crisis in 2008, with the Federal Reserve raising interest rates seven times in 2022 to control inflation.

Saudi trades in US stocks through capital market institutions recorded a decline of SAR 8.4 billion from SAR 22.8 billion in Q3 2022, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said in a report.

The CMA report on the trading value of local brokers in the global markets does not include either details of the number of Saudi portfolios abroad, the number of investors trading directly through foreign brokers or their trading volumes.

The following table shows Saudi transactions on US equities since Q1 2016:

Saudi transactions in the US market accounted for nearly 90% of total trading in foreign markets, which stood at SAR 16.1 billion, the Saudi market regulator added.

The table below indicates sell and buy transactions on US equities executed by Saudi investors through authorized market institutions in foreign markets in Q4 2022: