The index for Arab Stock Exchanges rose 17 percent in the year. Similarly, the index for GCC stock markets rose 17 percent for the same period.

In 2009, the BSE’s Market cap posted a year-on-year growth of 34 percent to $13 billion, accounting for nearly 1.2 percent of the total market capitalization of all Arab exchanges.

The Market cap of banking stocks rose the most (by 67 percent), followed by market cap of real estate stocks which rose 31 percent, and the market cap of industrial stocks which increased 2 percent.

Total trading volume reached 103 million shares in 2009, down three percent from 2008. Bank stocks accounted for 68 percent of total trading volume in 2009, followed by real estate stocks with 32 percent and industrial stocks with 0.5 percent.

In terms of value of shares traded, real estate stocks accounted for 67percent of the total value, followed by banking stocks with 30 percent and industrial stocks with 0.2 percent.