Saudi investors’ foreign stock trades via Saudi firms near half of domestic activity

Saudi investors are becoming far more active in overseas stocks, at least through local brokers. In the first half of 2026, buying and selling in foreign equity markets through Saudi financial-market institutions totaled 576.5 billion riyals, equal to 46.5% of the 1.24 trillion riyals traded in Saudi shares; two years earlier, that comparison was about 6%. U.S. equities accounted for the overwhelming majority, pointing to the pull of American markets rather than a broadly spread shift across countries. These are turnover figures—every purchase and sale—not a measure of how much Saudi wealth is permanently invested abroad, but they show international markets are becoming a much bigger part of investors’ day-to-day activity.