Beirut SE
Current year high: 1,200.49 Current year low: 977.55
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 984.24 Points Period Change: -2.6%
After 18 weeks of rarely interrupted drops, the MSCI Lebanon index moved below the 1,000 points line on Aug 9. The dip below a psychologically alarming watershed was probably balanced by the fact that the locally better-known BLOM Stock Index (BSI) uses another methodology and display format and showed a close in the 1440 range on Aug 24. However, neither format camouflages the unsightly reality that the BSE is down quite a bit year to date, 7% according to BSI and 11.8% according MSCI Lebanon. Good H1 results by listed banks could not mitigate the cries of alarm.
Amman SE
Current year high: 2,693.91 Current year low: 2,223.30
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 2,269.47 Points Period Change: -1.7%
The Amman Stock Exchange is now close on the heels of the Dubai Financial Market, moving steadily south when everyone wants to go north. Down 11.4% for the year-to-date at session close on Aug 24, the ASE general index movements in August included a new 12-month low at 2,223.30 points on Aug 17. Sector indices performed a little better than the benchmark index but also flashed predominantly red. Banking, which was the most volatile sector on the ASE in the review period, was the only sector that closed the period with a gain (2%).
Abu Dhabi SM
Current year high: 3,239.74 Current year low: 2,467.04
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 2,502.93 Points Period Change: -1.7%
The overall performance of the Abu Dhabi Securities Market in August 2010 was a bit better than suggested by the negative index value on the month. The market actually recovered some ground during Ramadan after the index slumped on Aug 12 to just within a hair’s breadth of the 12-month low seen last December. The real estate sub-index was temporarily down more than 10% intra-month and energy and real estate sectors were the period’s underperformers. Sharp drops in the trading volume and price of Aabar Investment were seen after the delisting company ended its buy-back offer.
Dubai FM
Current year high: 2,373.37 Current year low: 1,461.80
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 1493.96 Points Period Change: -1.3%
Lack of information and lack of confidence were among reasons cited in reviews of the Dubai Financial Market’s continuing calamity of index underperformance and escaping investors, even in a month that Nasdaq Dubai started “outsourcing” its share trading to the DFM platform. Trading volumes on DFM fell in several sessions after Aug 11 to serious lows, below 40 million shares per day. Materials and transport were underperforming sectors for the review period; stocks in the red included Arabtec, Air Arabia, and Shuaa Capital, down 5.7%, 6.2% and 13.2%, respectively.
Kuwait SE
Current year high: 7,964.30 Current year low: 6,319.70
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 6682.10 Points Period Change: 0.4%
After recovering from year lows that hit the Kuwait Stock Exchange in early July, August arrived in true summer fashion: volumes relaxed at the start of the month and index lay flat like it was sunbathing at the beach. Sideways trading ruled for the benchmark index and most sectors. Banking, however, was an exception. The sector index enjoyed three sessions with comparatively strong gains during the review period and the sector was the KSE’s outperformer in August.
Saudi Arabia SE
Current year high: 6,929.40 Current year low: 5,617.31
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 6,018.27 Points Period Change: -4.0%
Pressure on oil prices, pressures on petrochemicals, negative imprints from dour moods on global markets: recording its steepest fall since May, the Saudi Stock Exchange was not in good form in the review period. Compared to its peers, the Tadawul index flailed under the strongest downturn of all GCC bourses last month. All sectors were engulfed in the down-wind, from insurance and banking to agriculture and construction.
Muscat SM
Current year high: 6,933.75 Current year low: 5,968.36
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 6,293.27 Points Period Change: 0.0%
Investors on the Muscat Stock Exchange seemed to be caught in a wave model of tender market flux that makes the index graph look calm and somewhat pretty but does not facilitate too much in terms of gains. The industry index achieved a slight gain in the review period but the other two sector indices, services & insurance and banking & investment, ticked lower. For the year to date, MSM market performance ranked second in the GCC after Qatar but still stood 1.2% in the red.
Bahrain SE
Current year high: 1,605.98 Current year low: 1,361.19
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 1,424.27 Points Period Change: 2.2%
A slow but steady flow of upward index movements put the Bahrain Stock Exchange into second place for gainers in the Gulf during the August review period. Commercial banking stocks drove the index higher, especially toward the end of the review period. Large volumes have never quite been the ‘in thing’ on the BSE; in August of 2010 this meant that the water in the trading cup didn’t evaporate quite as visibly as in the larger GCC exchanges. Compared with the start of the year, the BSE is a bearish but bearable 2.3% down.
Doha SM
Current year high: 7,801.33 Current year low: 6,502.93
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 7,200.55 Points Period Change: 2.4%
For the start of Ramadan, volumes on the Qatar Stock Exchange were fittingly subdued and index values were regressive. But in the second week of the period dedicated to charity by the faithful, the QSE benchmark index moved up and added about 180 points between Aug 16 and 24. Stock trading in services was notable on volume and the sector index advanced range bound to the general index. The month’s best performer, the QSE closed Aug 24 as the sole GCC bourse with a year-to-date gain.
Tunis SE
Current year high: 5,279.90 Current year low: 3,717.15
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 5,269.69 Points Period Change: 3.7%
Tunisian equity markets seem to be chasing fairy tale status. The Tunindex not only was the best gainer in MENA in the review period, with a lead of 1.3 percentage points over the next comer, trading in the slow month of August also added no less than 10 new record closes from Aug 2 to 24. Market cap leader Poulina weakened 1.5% but the country’s two top banking stocks, BIAT and BT, gained 3.7% and 8.9%, respectively.
Casablanca SE
Current year high: 12,457.59 Current year low: 9,997.56
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 11,604.34 Points Period Change: -1.5%
Whereas the Casablanca Stock Exchange’s MASI weakened in the review period, the index is still a solid 12.5 up from the start of 2010. Of market heavyweights, top scrip Maroc Telecom dropped 2.3% while Attijariwafa Bank added less than 1% to its share price. The middle of August saw the delisting of newly consolidated stocks SNI and ONA. Analysts suggested that the move freed liquidity for investors in the short term and would benefit the Moroccan exchange in the long term.
Egypt CASE
Current year high: 7,603.04 Current year low: 5,850.00
> Review period: Closed Aug 24 at 6507.00 Points Period Change: 2.3%
The “enough” bell appears to have rung out in Cairo as the market has taken further steps on its journey from ‘oversold’ to ‘buying’. From its year low in early July, the EGX 30 index had climbed about 650 points by the Aug 24 session close. Chart-topping gainers were oil refiner AMOC and developer Palm Springs, up 15.7% and 10.6%, respectively. Market heavies OCI and OTH were up 6.4% and 6.3%, but the Orascom affiliate Mobinil performed better still with a 9.5% gain.
