The Egyptian bourse scored strong gains due to intensive foreign demand, while Saudi stocks closed in the green for the second consecutive week, buoyed by the huge public spending committed by the government for the coming few years.
“I believe the marathon Saudi public spending will have positive repercussions, not only inside Saudi Arabia, but also across the Gulf and Arab region,” Wajdi Makhamreh, CEO of the Amman-based Noor Investments brokerage, told Arab News.
“I think surging oil prices are also set to boost regional markets, as huge surpluses accruing to Arab oil producing countries will seek investment outlets, including stocks,” he said.
Makhamreh expected investors’ attention to focus in the coming weeks on first quarter results, while the impact of political events receding to the back seat.
Saudi stocks extended gains last week, led by the petrochemical, real estate, telecom and banking sectors.
The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) of the Arab world’s largest stock exchange rose about three percent, closing week at a six-week high of 6,562.85 points.
TASI gained 10.46 percent in March, with most of the gains scored in the wake of the 130-billion-dollar spending package that was unveiled recently by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah.
On a week-to-week basis, the sector activity was all positive except two losing sectors.
The gaining sectors ranged from 0.18 percent by the Hotel & tourism sector to 8.82 percent by the Insurance sector.
On the other hand, the transport and the cement sectors declined 0.73 percent and 2.41 percent respectively, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) — licensed by the Capital Market Authority — said in its weekly market report.
The stock market turnover surged to SR24.12 billion last week as compared to SR17.98 billion for the previous week.
Kuwaiti stocks were volatile last week, mainly due to the political woes that led to the resignation of the government to avoid grilling by opposition lawmakers, analysts said.
Kuwait’s KSE all-share index gained 0.17 percent on weekly basis, to close at 6,295 points.
According to the weekly report of the Kuwaiti financial services firm, Wodooh, the Kuwaiti stock exchange lost $15.5 billion in the first quarter of 2011.
“There are concerns that these losses will reflect negatively on the first quarter earnings of listed firms,” the report said.
The benchmark of the Dubai stock exchange closed week 0.2 percent in the green last week at 1,556 points, while the all-share index of the Abu Dhabi bourse shed 1 percent, closing at 2,607 points.
Egypt’s AGX 30 index, measuring the performance of the market’s 30 most active stocks, climbed 10.4 percent last week, to close at 5,463 points, due to strong demand by foreigners who sought to make benefit from low prices after the Egyptian stock exchange re-opened on March 23, analysts said.
Head of the Egyptian stock exchange, Mohammad Abdussalam, said that 29 new foreign funds had been set up to over the past week trade Egyptian stocks-8 from Latin America, 13 from Europe and 8 from Arab countries.
The Amman stock exchange continued its weak performance last week due to the absence of confidence and political developments in the country, Makhamreh said.
The ASE all-share index shed 0.3 percent this week, closing at 2,175 points.
