Equities are expected to have the highest total return this year in global and local markets, according to the CFA Institute's Middle East Market Sentiment Survey.

Debt and Sharia-compliant issuances as well as mergers and acquisitions are expected to increase, found the survey which provides insights from CFA charterholders and CFA Institute members from across the Middle East region, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of investors expect equities in the global market to have the highest total return this year (compared to bonds, cash, commodities, precious metals and real estate).

Another key finding was that nearly one-third (31 per cent) of investors expect equities in local Middle East markets to have the highest total return this year while one-quarter (26 per cent) of respondents expect real estate to have the highest total return.

CFA Institute in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa managing director Nitin Mehta said that interestingly, opinions related to public disclosures were a major theme in this year's survey results.

"Given its importance in analysing listed companies, the majority of investment professionals in the region (68pc) believe that both governments and corporations should increase efforts to create extensive systems for collecting data and disclosing information in order to help investors make informed investment decisions," Mehta said.

The majority of respondents from the GCC (46pc) consider infrastructure and government investment programmes to be the most attractive attribute for Middle East investments, followed by 25 per cent of respondents from the GCC who consider access to natural resources to be the most attractive attribute for Middle East investments.

By comparison, many respondents from Middle East countries outside of the GCC (41 per cent) cite access to natural resources as the most attractive attribute.

Real estate, hospitality, and construction sectors are expected to be the main drivers of foreign direct investment (FDI) over the next two years, according to nearly half (47 per cent) of respondents.

Following these sectors, 18pc of respondents expect energy and only nine per cent expect transportation to be the main driver of FDI.

One-third (34 per cent) of respondents indicated that commodities pricing provides the most insight into potential near-term economic corrections while another one-third (33 per cent) of respondents believe that equity markets provide the most insight.

At the same time, another one-quarter (27 per cent) use real estate as the best indicator of near-term economic corrections.

Political differences are a significant obstacle to one consolidated regional stock exchange.

The vast majority of respondents (75 per cent) cite political differences among countries as the most important hurdle for creating one stock exchange, which represents all GCC markets.

More than half of respondents (67 per cent) expect debt issuing activities to increase this year, while 49 per cent of respondents expect mergers and acquisitions to increase and 56pc of respondents expect Sharia-compliant issues to increase.

At the same time, 61 per cent of respondents expect wage levels to remain the same and 43 per cent of respondents expect Mena stock exchange competitiveness to remain the same.

Oil price per barrel is expected to be in the range $61-$90, according to half of respondents (50 per cent).

Slightly less than half of respondents (47 per cent) expect the oil price per barrel to be in the range of $30-$60. - TradeArabia News Service