Arab stocks close week higher on global market gains, oil prices
Published: Sep 3, 2010 23:38 Updated: Sep 3, 2010 23:38
AMMAN: Arab stock markets rebounded last week, drawing momentum from gains scored by the Wall Street and other global markets and oil prices which recovered in response to easing world recovery concerns, financial analysts said Friday.
They also attributed the improving performance of regional bourses to the nearing departure of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, as astronomers expect the lunar month to end on Sept. 9.
However, analysts said that the Middle East markets, particularly in the oil-Gulf region were still “psychologically connected” with world bourses and that regional investors continued to monitor indicators of the US and European economies.
“I believe Arab markets continue to be responsive to what happens at global markets while investors closely monitor reports of the world recovery,” Wajdi Makhamreh, CEO of the Amman-based Noor Investments brokerage, said.
He said that oil prices would continue to play a key role in deciding the direction of Arab stocks.
“I think a state of pessimism and speculation still prevail in regional markets, with investors prefer hit-and-run tactics to avoid unseen losses,” Makharmeh said.
The biggest gains were scored by the Saudi stock exchange, where petrochemical and banking sectors led the rally and the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed week in the green for the first time in three weeks.
The Saudi benchmark gained 2.63 per cent on weekly basis, closing at 6,158.99 points after falling below the 6,000-point psychological barrier.
However, analysts said that the Saudi market was searching for new investors to pump fresh liquidity to the market, and expected Saudi stocks to score fresh gains after Ramadan, barring any key negative developments on world markets.
Jordanian shares were volatile last week due to what Makhamreh called lack of confidence and liquidity crunch.
The all-share index of the Amman Stock Exchange gained 0.65 per cent last week, closing at 2,264 points, according to the ASE weekly report.
Kuwait’s KSE all-share index went up 0.87 per cent last week, to close at 6,703 points, finding support mainly from the banking and telecom sectors.
The benchmark of the Dubai stock exchange closed marginally higher at 1,498 points while the Abu Dhabi all-share index shed 0.24 per cent, closing week at 2,495 points.
Egypt’s AGX30 index, which measures the performance of the market’s 30 most active shares, gained 0.8 per cent on weekly basis, closing at 6,526 points, with main support coming from the financial sector, analysts said.
The GulfBase GCC Index edged higher by 1.86 percent to 3,733.02 points. The value of GCC traded shares, however, fell by 10.31 percent to $2.67 billion and volume declined by 14.06 percent to 1.44 billion of shares.
