Saudi market draws SAR 400B foreign investments: El-Kuwaiz

Mohammed El-Kuwaiz Chairman of the Capital Market Authority

The Saudi stock market drew foreign investments of nearly SAR 400 billion, said Chairman of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) Mohammed El-Kuwaiz.

In a panel discussion at the Saudi Capital Market Forum (SCMF) 2024, El-Kuwaiz said this figure represents nearly 12% of the outstanding shares, which has been on the rise since opening the market to foreign investors.

He confirmed that the marker regulator is currently studying around 56 listing applications on both the main market (TASI) and the Nomu-Parallel Market, an increase of 30% compared with approximately 40 applications a year earlier.

When considering the performance of indices and the potential applications, the outlook is positive.

Commenting on the technical development in the Saudi stock market, El-Kuwaiz said the communications and information technology (CIT) plays a dynamic role in the stock markets, as they shape the features of markets.

In return, the capital markets play a pivotal role in the financing technology and innovation, the Chairman said.

"Looking back five years ago, we will not find a technology company listed on the Saudi market," El-Kuwaiz said.

CIT is currently one of the largest sectors in terms of the number of listings and raised capital, showing remarkable growth. In addition, it has become the best performing sector in 2023.

"This transformation confirms our responsibility to facilitate the financing of technology and innovation through the stock market. This became an increasing reality amid the market maturity, diversification, and attraction of investors who are more interested in technological investments," El-Kuwaiz noted.

He added that there was no venture capital five years ago, and investments in the relevant investments did not exceed tens of millions. Meanwhile, venture capital financing exceeded SAR 1.7 billion in 2023, helping the Kingdom rank among the leading emerging markets globally and in the MENA region.

The CIT sector benefited greatly from venture capital growth, creating new financing and investment opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This helped SMEs expand in financial technology, which brought about a shift in the financing mechanism that is currently implemented in less than a minute after taking several months or years previously, El-Kuwaiz concluded.