UAE Investors Shift Focus: AI Leads, Big Tech & Pharma Lag in Q2
Among UAE eToro users, NVIDIA, AMD & Intel are some of the most popular stocks, while big tech companies like Snapchat, Adobe, Netflix & Apple are seeing a fall in investor interest.
Retail investors in the UAE are implementing significant shifts in their portfolios, prioritising AI-driven businesses over established tech giants and pharmaceutical enterprises. Investors are placing more and more bets on artificial intelligence's revolutionary potential as the appeal of Big Tech and pharmaceutical equities fades.
Today, we have eToro with us, an esteemed trading and investing platform. eToro has over 37 million registered users from more than 10 countries, making them a highly trustworthy and visionary organisation to share their insights on various topics related to investments and wealth management. eToro has demonstrated a comprehensive analysis of the important changes in the investing preferences of UAE investors during the 2nd quarter.
Analysis of UAE Investors' Preferences
This analysis showcases that retail investors in the UAE are sticking with AI while Big Tech and pharmaceutical stocks are losing ground. eToro examined the top ten most-held stocks in the UAE in addition to identifying the firms with the largest proportionate shift in holdings on its platform, quarter-on-quarter.
Top Stock Rankings and AI Momentum
In Q2, there was a notable change in the top stocks’ rankings, with NVIDIA emerging as the second most popular stock on the eToro platform, trailing only Tesla. The leader in the AI market, which was ranked ninth three months ago and fifth at the end of Q1, has been drawing in new customers thanks to a 37% increase in its share price throughout the most recent quarter. Users of semiconductor firms Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) (+29%) and Intel (+11%), which recently revealed new AI chips to wrest market share from NVIDIA and AMD, also increased significantly. Furthermore, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Palantir Technologies increased by 16% to rank in the top 10.
Decline in Big Tech and Pharma Stocks
However, investor interest in global technology businesses including Snapchat (-11%), Adobe (-16%), Netflix (-5%), and Apple (-5%) declined, and labour reductions were reported in the industry. As the COVID-19 outbreak and its aftermath faded into history, pharmaceutical stocks including Moderna (-9%), Jaguar Health (-6%), and Pfizer (-5%) also saw a decline.
Table 1: Shows stocks most widely held by eToro users in the UAE and their position last quarter.
Table 2: Shows which stocks have seen the biggest proportional increase and decrease in holders on the eToro platform quarter on quarter.
“The enthusiasm for AI giants underscores a collective investor belief in the transformative potential of artificial intelligence technologies. Investors are now favouring the promising advancements and higher growth potential within the AI sector over the established yet increasingly volatile traditional tech landscape,” explained George Naddaf, Regional Manager, GCC and MENA at eToro.
“With the pandemic's immediate impact fading and global travel resuming robustly, as evidenced by Dubai Airport's resurgence as one of the busiest airports worldwide investor's attention is also shifting away from pandemic-driven pharma gains towards sectors poised for substantial post-pandemic growth. This evolving investor sentiment underscores a broader trend of prioritising future-oriented, high-growth sectors over established, but currently less dynamic, industries.”
We thank eToro for this invaluable piece on the important topic of ‘UAE retail investors choose AI over Big Tech and Pharma loses momentum’. We strive to bring you more such feature articles and exclusive op-eds. Stay tuned for all the exclusive content on our platform.
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