CAIRO, 13 December 2003 — Middle East stock markets closed the week ending Thursday on a generally calm note, but with the Palestinian bourse plunging after talks last week failed to yield a truce in the conflict with Israel.
The Palestinian Al-Quds Index fell 11.7 percent to 173.08 points from 196.07 a week earlier. “In Palestine, more than anywhere else, there is a very strong relation between the fluctuations of our index and the evolution of the political news,” said Hassan Yassin, general manager of the Nablus-based stock exchange.
The Saudi market, the region’s largest in terms of capitalization, witnessed quiet trade after a steady five-week surge that brought cumulative gains of 9.5 percent and of 74.1 percent for the whole year. The Tadawul All Shares Index edged 0.3 percent higher to close at 4,383.57 points. Investors are awaiting the release of annual corporate earnings and of the state budget. Kuwait’s KSE Index eased 0.18 percent on the week to 4,589.70 points. This first decline in six weeks was attributed to profit-taking. But the market, the region’s second largest, is still 92.9 percent up on the beginning of the year.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Bahrain’s BSE Index rose to 2,341.52 points from 2.330,85, while Oman’s MSM was virtually unchanged at 271,22 points, compared with 271.23.
The United Arab Emirates’ NBAD dipped to 4,458.16 points from 4,460.47. In Qatar, the CBQ Index dropped to 708.77 points from 711.72 after dropping a sharp 2.8 percent the previous week. Jordan’s ASE Index edged up to 260.26 points from 259..
In Iran, the Tehran bourse continued the relentless rise that began with the current fiscal year in March and which has led to cumulative gains of more than 100 percent. It put on 3.15 percent to 10.250,11 points from 9,936.96 a week earlier. Tehran’s TSE-50 advanced to 758.62 points from 726.45 points. Lebanon’s Blom Stock Index dipped to 429.95 points from 431.54. In Egypt, the CASE-30 dropped one percent to 1,074.10 points from 1,084.80 last week.
