Trading across Arab capital markets reached US$825 billion in nine months

Fadi Kanso, secretary-general of the Arab Federation of Capital Markets, said trading value across Arab capital markets reached about US$825 billion in January–September 2026. He made the statement at the federation’s annual conference in Abu Dhabi on 29 September, according to the Emirates News Agency WAM. The comparable value for the first nine months of 2025 was around US$700 billion, an increase of 18 percent. Combined market capitalization stood at approximately US$4.3 trillion at the end of September.

Trading value measures the total monetary value of assets exchanged during a period. It is not the same as capital raised when a company issues new shares or net investment flowing into the region. The same security can change hands many times, increasing reported turnover and volume. The US$825 billion figure therefore indicates the intensity of market activity, but does not by itself show how much fresh funding companies obtained directly through capital markets.

Share trading volume reached 1.5 trillion shares during the nine-month period. The number of transactions was reported at 135 million, up about 10 percent year on year. Share count, transaction count and monetary value are separate measures: a trade can involve one share or a large block, while price changes affect the value assigned to the same quantity. Increases across all three suggest more activity, but do not fully describe the balance between buyers and sellers, investor returns or risk appetite.

The federation chairman said markets had continued operating, absorbed shocks and played a role in financing economies despite regional volatility. That is the federation’s assessment. The US$4.3 trillion market capitalization is a stock measure of listed-company valuations at a point in time; the nine-month trading value is a flow accumulated over a period. The figures cannot be added together or used interchangeably as a measure of new capital entering the markets.

At the conference, the official said investors were increasingly assessing markets they consider to offer growth, stability and resilience. This points to structural factors such as the quality of regulation, reliability of corporate disclosures and access to markets. WAM’s report does not break down the increase by country, exchange or sector. The regional total therefore does not show that every Arab market expanded at the same rate or that all companies found it easier to raise funds.

Higher turnover can help assess market liquidity, but it is not by itself a measure of market quality or success in financing the economy. Funds raised through an initial public offering, bond or share issuance are different from investors’ secondary-market trades. New capital formation and liquidity in existing securities serve different functions. The announcement provides no comparable figures on bond issuance, IPO proceeds, company fundraising by market or investor returns.

Useful details to follow include which exchanges and countries are covered by the federation’s data, its calculation method, currency conversion dates and the trend in the final quarter of 2026. Comparable time series for market capitalization and trading value would help separate price effects from capital flows. For now, the federation’s figures indicate increases in trading value, volume and transaction count; they are not a final full-year result for 2026.

How regional capital markets operate matters to financing access and investment decisions, but the impact of these aggregates on company investment or employment would need separate analysis. The announcement presents the federation’s view that markets continued to function and its activity figures for nine months. To understand what they mean, turnover, net funds raised, new securities issuance, market value and real returns should be tracked separately. That distinction prevents an active secondary market from being mistaken for a direct increase in productive capital.