CAIRO, 5 March 2004 — Deadly attacks in Iraq this week triggered fears of civil strife, causing losses in the stock market of neighboring Kuwait and slowing progress on other Gulf bourses.
Kuwait’s KSE index dipped 3.1 percent on the week to close at 5,131.10 points Wednesday, reducing to just seven percent the year-to-date gains on this stock market, the second largest in the Arab world.
Good corporate results helped the Saudi stock market, the most capitalized in the Arab world, to overcome the gloom. Its TASI index closed at 4,853.81 points, up two percent. The TASI closed at a new high of 4,865.96 points on Tuesday.
Riyadh’s Bakheet Financial Advisors attributed Tuesday’s rise to hefty profit reported by the Kingdom’s industrial giant SABIC and the Saudi Telecommunications Co. It said the fall Wednesday was caused by a drop in the shares of the Saudi Electricity Co.
Bahrain’s BSE index shed one percent to close at 2,306.21 points yesterday, with losses in the banking and hotel sectors.
Weekly gains in Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates were limited to just 0.2 percent.
Qatar’s CBQ index closed yesterday at 855.99 points, Oman’s MSM at 295.57 points the same day, and the United Arab Emirates’ NBAD at 4,823.17 points on Wednesday.
The slowdown came after consecutive leaps of more than five percent for the CBQ in the previous two weeks. The Qatari stock market continues to be the best performer so far this year in the Gulf, with a gain of 18.7 percent.
The Gulf stock markets have been on the rise since the fall of Saddam Hussein last April, as investors pin hopes on increased business for regional companies in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Iraq’s eastern and western neighbors, Iran and Jordan, recorded a modest weekly increase of one percent. Tehran’s TEPIX closed at 11,091.62 points Wednesday and Amman’s ASE at 2,810.01 points yesterday.
The Palestinian stock market continued to climb for the fifth week in a row. The Al-Quds index closed at 184.56 points Thursday, up 1.7 percent.
Egypt’s HFI index closed at 13,275.85 points yesterday, up 0.8 percent. Commercial International Bank, Oriental Weavers and Media Production City emerged as main gainers along with telecommunications companies.
Lebanon’s BSI index dipped 0.8 percent, closing at 447.34 points yesterday.
