AMMAN, 4 September 2004 — Middle East stock markets are expected to extend gains in the coming weeks, driven by rising oil incomes, macroeconomic fundamentals, promising investment opportunities in Iraq, and what is deemed as “good results” for the third quarter, Financial analysts said yesterday.
“I am still bullish over the performance of markets in the coming weeks, perhaps for the rest of the year, due to the existence of incentives, foremost soaring oil prices and what investors predict as good third quarter results,” Saqr Abdul Fattah, portfolio manager at the Housing Bank for Trade and Finance, told Arab News. “I am sure the 1973 oil boom in the region will repeat itself shortly as a result of rapidly rising oil prices,” he added.
Abdul Fattah pointed out that the effect of the huge oil revenues will not be confined to Gulf state, but “will trigger outflows to neighboring countries, including Jordan”. “The factors that were behind the bullish trend in the Middle East are still there, including the promising opportunities in Iraq,” he said.
The all-share weighted price index of the Amman Stock Exchange gained 2.1 percent in the trading week ending Thursday, to close at 2,933 points up from 2,873 points last week, according to the ASE weekly report.
Saudi shares rebounded on Thursday, making up for part of the losses investors incurred due to a profit-taking move in the first three days of the week.
The benchmark price of the Arab world’s largest bourse fell 0.1 percent after a rally that persisted for several weeks. The index closed at 6,317.36 points compared with last week’s close at 6,382.11 points.
In Kuwait, the KSE index finished week up 0.6 percent at 5,883.8 points.
Egyptian stocks also kept up their strong performance this week, with the Hermes index closing up 2.7 percent at 17,321 points from 16,862 points last week, supported by reports about the privatization of the Suez Cement Company.
