AMMAN, 10 July 2004 — Middle East stock markets are expected to score fresh gains in the coming weeks, buoyed by the development of the political process in Iraq and semi-annual results of listed firms, financial analysts said yesterday.
“Despite the shaky security situation in Iraq, shares will draw benefit from the latest political steps to speed up reconstruction in the country,” Wajdi Makhamreh, head of trading at the Atlas Investment Group told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).
“Furthermore, early reports indicating positive performance of regional businesses could provide a clue as to the direction of markets in the coming months,” he added.
The all-share weighted price index of the Amman Stock Exchange shed 0.92 percent in the trading week ending Thursday.
The benchmark price closed at 2,797 points down from last week’s close at 2,823 points, according to the ASE weekly report.
Portfolio managers attributed the decline to a “limited profit- taking” move, mainly due to pressure put on the heavyweight Arab Bank in the light of a lawsuit filed in the United States by six American families against the bank’s New York branch.
Saudi shares gained for the third week in a row, propelled by the newly listed Sahara Petrochemical Co. and soaring oil revenues, an analyst said.
The price index of the Saudi bourse closed this week on Thursday at 5,921.27 points, up from 5,745.75 points last week, according to the market’s weekly report.
“We believe Saudi shares will score fresh gains in the coming week following the establishment of a capital market authority that paves the ground for further reforms,” said an Amman-based portfolio manager, who follows up the Saudi market.
In Kuwait, the KSE price index ignored a decision by the Central Bank of Kuwait to raise the rediscount rate by 0.25 of a percentage point, and closed at an all-time high of 5,502 points.
“I think Kuwaiti shares will advance further in the coming couple of weeks, encouraged by semi-annual results and Iraq developments,” an analyst said. “However, a retreat in the performance of the Kuwaiti bourse is expected toward the end of July as most dealers leave for summer vacation,” he added.
The United Arab Emirates’ NBAD was also sharply higher, rising 3.8 percent to 5,702.01 points from 5,491.76.
In Egypt, the HFI index picked up 1.2 percent to 14,641.29 points from 14,466.29 last week.
The Tehran market added 1.3 percent, with the TSE closing at 12,759.34 points from 12,592.06.
Bahrain’s BSE was little changed, slipping to 2,487.41 points from 2,488.13.
Qatar posted the worst performance of the week, dropping seven percent to 878.24 from 945.20.
In Oman, the MSM eased 0.3 percent to 3,446.90 points from 3,458.11.
Beirut’s BSI put on a meager 0.1 percent to close at 608.60 from 607,58.
Meanwhile, Nigerian stocks fell this week by 1.3 percent, taking the All-share Index to 27,681.87 points from 28,049.17 points, brokers said yesterday. Market capitalization fell to 1.979-trillion naira from 2.01-trillion naira, a 1.9 percent declined.
Turnover volume rose remarkably to 470.9 million shares from 273.6 million shares, a 72 percent increase. Turnover value also climbed to 6.9-billion naira from 4.8-billion naira, a 43.8 percent change.
The banking sector dominated trading accounting for 76 percent of total shares traded, followed by the insurance sector with 5.92 percent of shares traded.
Northern Nigeria Flour Mill PLC and First Bank Nigeria plc led the gainers to close at 25.09 naira and 31.02 naira respectively.
