Facebook, Boeing stocks most popular in MENA in Q1, 2019

The social media giant was followed mainly by American companies including aerospace firm Boeing, financial commerce provider Wirecard AG and tech and gaming leaders NVIDIA Corp. and Electronic Arts respectively.

Peter Garnry, Head of Equity Strategy, said the most traded stocks at Saxo Bank in the MENA region continue to be dominated by technology firms, as seen in previous quarters, due to “the strong brand awareness of multinational firms combined with their price attractiveness.”

“Organisations are still driven by technology and investors are moving with this market trend,” he said. 

Garnry said Q4 of 2018 was destructive for share prices and earnings estimates across major equity indices around the world. However, a stronger monetary policy and improving data out of Asia has allowed US equities to make a comeback to last year’s all-time-high level with the S&P 500 only 2% from its September peak.

“The drivers are monetary policy, optimism over a US-China trade deal, improving Asia macro figures and with the Q1 earnings season starting this week, maybe a fourth engine can be added to global equities,” he added.

Globally, Facebook stocks also proved the most popular, having risen 34% YTD, while NVIDIA Corp. stock rose 43% thanks to its exposure to e-gaming, cryptocurrency and datacenters. Tesla was next on the list, despite a volatile stock price and 17.5% decline, and largely due to its being the biggest pure play investors can do on the transition to electric vehicles, according to Saxo Bank.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd was fourth most popular as it saw a 35.5% rise in stock price as it offers investors exposure to the Chinese consumer market while delivering high growth rates.

Fifth on the list was Netflix, which also saw a 35.5% surge in stock price as its number of subscribers reached almost 150 million in Q4.