IslamicFinance.de

Middle East fund managers have on balance become bearish on the region’s biggest stock market, Saudi Arabia, after oil’s rally ran out of steam and the Kingdom confirmed strict rules on foreign investment, a monthly Reuters survey shows. The survey of 15 leading investment firms, conducted over the past 10 days, shows none expects to raise its equity allocation to the Middle East in the next three months — the first time this has been recorded since the survey was launched in September 2013. The proportion intending to cut equity allocations has risen to 20 percent from 7 percent. Also, falling trading volumes and thin corporate news flow indicate that markets are already slipping into a summer lull.