AMMAN, 7 August 2004 — Despite the departure of a large number of dealers on traditional summer vacations, Middle East stock markets are expected to retain the upward trend in the coming couple of weeks, drawing benefit mainly from good half-year results and soaring oil prices, financial analysts said yesterday.
They told Arab News that the political situation in the region, particularly mounting security problems in Iraq, was “discounted in the market” and would not have much impact on regional stocks.
“I think the general image remains positive, taking into account the good semi-annual results and other fundamentals,” said Saqr Abdul Fattah, portfolio manager at the Housing Bank for Trade and Finance.
“Despite profit-taking intervals from time to time, markets appear to be cohesive and in a consolidation phase,” he added.
He said that the deteriorating situation in Iraq, particularly the spate of kidnappings, were “discounted in the market” and could have no much effect on performance at regional bourses.
“As for Jordan, the kidnappings could have a short-lived impact on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE), but will not affect Jordan’s plans to market itself as a gateway for Iraq reconstruction, because no other country in the region can play this role,” Abdul Fattah said.
The ASE’s all-share price index shed 0.91 percent this week, to close at 2,889 points down from 2,916 points last week, according to the market’s weekly report.
The weekly turnover also dropped by 13.5 percent, to 49.5 million dinars ($70 million) from 57.2 million dinars ($81 million) last week, the report said.
Gulf bourses continued to rally, buoyed by record oil prices and corporate earnings. The NYMEX crude oil futures hit Thursday a 21-year high on fears surrounding Russia’s future export abilities.
The Saudi all-share index gained 0.2 percent this week, closing at 6,195.56 points, compared with last week’s close at 6,181.18 points.
In Kuwait, the KSE price index rose 0.4 percent this week to close at 5,655.1 points.
The Egyptian market’s Hermes index gained 2.82 percent, closing at 16,022 points up from last week’s close at 15,624 points.
