RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s financial market is continuing to gain momentum with 13 more companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange at the end of June compared to a year earlier.
According to the Capital Market Authority’s statistical bulletin issued on Monday, the number of firms on the Tadawul All Share Index stood at 228 at the end of the second quarter compared to 215 some 12 months earlier.
This reflects an annual increase of 6 percent, the report said.
This bulletin is part of the CMA’s efforts to provide statistical data about the Kingdom’s capital market, promote transparency, and stimulate growth and investment.
The number of listed companies on the parallel market, Nomu, surged 100 percent to stand at 62 at the end of the second quarter of 2023 compared to 31 a year ago.
During the second quarter of 2023, the CMA approved the offering of two companies in TASI and 18 companies in Nomu.
However, four requests in TASI and 45 requests in Nomu are still under study, showed the bulletin’s data.
Notably, the number of investment funds hit an all-time high during that period. They rose to 1,130 funds at the end of the second quarter of 2023 from 839 in the year-ago period, reflecting an increase of 34.68 percent annually.
The Kingdom’s financial market advanced seven places to the third position in the competitiveness indicators among G20 nations this year, revealed Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development in its report published in June.
According to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook for 2023, the Kingdom’s performance epitomizes the ongoing efforts of the Capital Market Authority to implement global best practices.
The country ranked first in the corporate boards index among G20 countries. It stood second in capital markets, shareholders’ rights and venture capital indices.
The yearbook further revealed that Saudi Arabia ranked third globally in the stock market capitalization index. It surpassed advanced nations like Japan, India, Germany, the UK, China and the US.
The Kingdom also topped all Arab nations participating in the report in nine of the 12 indices.
Its achievement results from CMA’s continued efforts to improve and develop the capital market sector by implementing relevant global best practices.
“Saudi Arabia aims to establish an advanced capital market that is open to the world and capable of attracting local and international capital, and that plays an efficient and pivotal role in meeting the economy’s funding requirements,” the authority said in a statement at the time.
