Franklin Templeton Likes U.A.E., Egypt in Mideast Stocks Outlook
- Fund is neutral Kuwait; underweight Saudi Arabia, Qatar
- In North Africa, Morocco and Tunisia are seen as expensive
Making the Case for a Rotation to Emerging Markets
The United Arab Emirates and Egypt are the Middle East stock markets poised to perform best in 2017, said Bassel Khatoun, Franklin Templeton Investments’ chief investment officer for Middle East and North Africa equity. Khatoun, who manages $87 million in stocks from the region out of Dubai, gave his calls on key markets in the region next year in a Dec. 19 interview.
Areas like tourism, finance, hospitality, trade should continue to grow. And the Expo 2020 in Dubai will serve as a concrete deadline for a lot of that infrastructural spending. Most of the liquidity issues in the country will be overcome, and the banks are operating quite healthy balance sheets. Its growing size on MSCI EM will also continue to attract investors.