S&P gauges Gulf

Index provider Standard and Poor’s has launched the S&P GCC 40 index, which is designed to provide exposure to 40 of the largest and most liquid companies on the primary exchanges in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The index will be used as a basis for structured products and ETFs.

The index is dominated by companies from the financial, materials, telecoms and industrial sectors. The largest constituents include Emaar Properties, Industries Qatar and Mobile Telecoms. The UAE has the largest country weighting (34.87%, 12 companies), followed by Kuwait (30.03%, 12 companies) and Qatar (29.21%, 11 companies).

Companies eligible for inclusion in the index must have a minimum float-adjusted market capitalisation of US$400 million, a three-month average daily value traded of at