The Impact of Macroeconomic Variables on Stock Prices in Kuwait
The Kuwaiti Stock Exchange was established in April 1977 and is among the oldest stock exchanges in the GCC countries. This study aims to add new evidence about the impact of macroeconomic factors on the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange. It examines empirically the dynamic relationship between the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange Index and the main macroeconomic variables. These variables included M2, the three-month deposit interest rate, oil prices, the US Dollar vs Kuwaiti Dinar exchange rate and the inflation rate. By applying the Johansen cointegration test, together with the Var Error Correction Model (VECM), the study found that there a long-run unidirectional relationship exists between the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange Index and the aforementioned macroeconomic variables. This study also confirmed the existence of a short-run relationship between oil prices and stock prices in Kuwait.