Key takeaways

• Saudi equities have drifted to roughly zero sensitivity to oil once global equity movement is accounted for. UAE equities now move against crude, driven by property rather than energy.
• Aramco and the petrochemical names are close to 19% of the Saudi index, yet Aramco rose about 15% as crude rose 31%. Under half the move reached shareholders.
• Real estate is about 18% of the UAE market and fell roughly 20%, with one developer causing most of the damage. Energy is only about 9%.
• Financials are roughly 40% of each market, which is why both now track global sentiment more closely than the oil price.
• Only about one in four Saudi equity funds beat TASI. Cash and sukuk funds returned a median of 3.8%, and nearly half of all fund assets in the Kingdom already sit there.
• The gap between the best and worst Saudi equity fund exceeded 24 points in a market that moved 3.2%. Selection mattered far more than allocation.

Links

• CNBC International, Access Middle East segment: Gulf equities at a negative correlation with oil markets, 14 August 2026 — watch here: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/08/14/gulf-equities-at-a-negative-correlation-with-oil-markets.html
• CIO Memo, August 2026: charts and full analysis: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:690f5a67-7f58-4e3d-b5f8-48c02b131733
• Dantes Outlook website: www.dantesoutlook.com

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