Trading volume on Gulf financial markets rose 19.5% year on year to about 401.7 billion shares in 2025, while the value of trades reached about $618 billion, according to data from the GCC-Stat, the Statistical Center for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.
Trading rises as indices decline
Trading activity grew despite weaker market performance in terms of indices and market capitalization. The composite index for Gulf financial markets stood at 165.2 points at the end of 2025, down 3.8% from the end of 2024.
Total market capitalization of Gulf stock exchanges fell 6.2% year on year to about $3.9 trillion.
779 companies listed on Gulf stock exchanges
The number of companies listed on Gulf stock exchanges reached 779 in 2025. Of these, 756 companies allowed citizens of GCC countries to trade their shares, equivalent to 97% of all listed companies.
The proportion of companies available to GCC citizens reached 100% on the Bahrain, Muscat, Qatar and Kuwait stock exchanges, reflecting the expanding scope of cross-border investment in Gulf equity markets.
Regulatory reforms and broader electronic connectivity
Gulf financial markets saw regulatory and legislative developments in 2025, including improvements to offering and listing rules, regulation of investment funds, stronger corporate governance, rules governing trading conduct and the development of market-making mechanisms.
The markets expanded their use of digital platforms and financial technologies while strengthening risk-based supervision, developing market infrastructure, updating capital-adequacy frameworks, expanding sustainability-related disclosures and upgrading systems for the electronic issuance of securities.
The regulation governing the cross-listing of investment funds came into force in 2025, constituting the first unified regulatory framework for a financial product across the GCC countries.
The GCC countries also continued working on initiatives to support the listing and trading of bonds and sukuk, promote the dual listing of companies and electronic links between stock exchanges, and unify investor identification numbers for GCC citizens to facilitate investment across Gulf markets and strengthen their integration.
