Foreign ownership in Saudi stocks to reach 10%: Tadawul CEO

Saudi Arabia’s listed companies are likely to see holdings by foreign investors rise to 10 percent following inclusion in MSCI and FTSE emerging market indices, Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) CEO Khalid Al Hussan told Reuters.

The FTSE Russell inclusion will attract $5 billion of passive funds, he added.

Foreign investors currently hold 5.9 percent of Saudi shares.

Tadawul, which is up 9.6 percent so far this year, on Monday joined the FTSE Emerging All Cap Index with a weighting of 2.9 percent. In May, the exchange will join the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

Read: Tadawul inclusion in FTSE, S&P DJI begins

Meanwhile, the number of qualified foreign investors is expected to double from the current 730 prior to the MSCI inclusion, Al Hussan added.