Beirut SE
Current year high: 1,200.49 Current year low: 815.53
> Review period: Closed: May 21 – 1,102.47 Period change: -0.62%
Good macroeconomic expectations and encouraging numbers on commercial bank deposits, central bank reserves, tourism activity and construction all supported positive calm in the Lebanese market. Real estate firm Solidere was the best performing stock in the review period, its share price advancing just under 2% in its two share classes. Solidere stock got a buy recommendation from a local bank with a target price upside of over 30%. Byblos Bank moved south, giving up 7% of its share price.
Amman SE
Current year high: 2,968.77 Current year low: 2,396.28
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 2,459.08 Period change: -4.52%
The Amman Stock Exchange, which already weathered bad tidings this year, was not spared the pressure that pushed share prices down on a broad base throughout May. On the year-to-date trajectory, the ASE is also among the losing markets, down 3.64% from January 1. The ASE sector indices moved range bound with the general index, with the exception of the insurance index, which showed a pronounced drop at the end of the review period and closed 7.8% down on the month.
Abu Dhabi SM
Current year high: 3,239.74 Current year low: 2,467.04
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 2,758.35 Period change: -0.68%
As one of the few markets in the GCC to have intra-month gains to show for itself, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange closed the review period with only a modest drop, which preceeded a precipitous plummet over the next two days. The industrial sector index was the upward outlier in May and ended the period 7% higher. The other sector with a gain was energy, up 0.35%. Taqa and Dana Gas were companies that attracted attention. Cattle farm operator and livestock trader, Gulf Livestock Co, was hot property, recording a share price gain of 43.7%.
Dubai FM
Current year high: 2,373.37 Current year low: 1,533.36
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 1,680.52 Period change: -3.41%
While sovereign debt has been a big topic in Dubai, this time it was fear that European sovereigns could be trapped in a cauldron of debt which impacted investor sentiment, and made brambles the only green shoots in evidence on global stock exchanges. Indices for telecommunications (up 8.5%) and utilities (up 4.7%) defied the gravity pull, while transport and real estate were hit hardest. The index backsliding meant that the DFM is, for another month, the GCC’s worst underperformer for the year to date, down 6.8% when compared with the start of 2010.
Kuwait SE
Current year high: 8,371.10 Current year low: 6,650.80
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 6,997.3 Period change: -4.14%
While the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange index fared better than most of its GCC peers in May, the less than romantic stock developments meant that the index was pushed marginally into the red compared to the start of the year, making it the GCC’s second-worst price performer for the year to date, after Dubai. All sector indices fell, but banking and food did comparatively well. The KSE ratio of losers to gainers was not as decidedly bearish as in peer markets, but MENA Holding, Jazeera Air, and Gulf
Finance House, three prominent stocks, each shed over 25% in worth.
Saudi Arabia SE
Current year high: 6,929.40 Current year low: 5,407.31
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 6,271.5 Period change: -9.33%
During the May review period, the Saudi Stock Exchange was caught in a 650-point slide from late April peaks. The index, TASI, closed at 6,271.50 points on May 23, representing a 9.33% fall from the last close in April. Only ten gainers, led by two recent debutants Gulf General Cooperative Insurance Co and Al Hassan Shaker Group, plus Zain Saudi, stood against a vast majority of losing stocks, many of which weakened by double digits. Among sectors, the petrochemicals sub-index was notable for underperforming the TASI by more than 7 percentage points.
Muscat SM
Current year high: 6,933.75 Current year low: 5,263.94
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 6,420.87 Period change: -6%
The reality of investor worries caught up with the Muscat Securities Market and dragged the index lower between April 30 and May 23. With its close at the end of the review period, the MSM index slipped back to levels last seen in January of this year and its year-to-date gain shrunk to less than 1%. All three sub-indices — banking, industry, and services — moved in step with the general index’s downtrend. Banking suffered the sharpest fall, sliding 8.66%, followed by services, while industry very slightly outperformed the general index.
Bahrain SE
Current year high: 1,635.08 Current year low: 1,413.81
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 1,491.98 Period change: -6.28%
Stock market participants in Bahrain had only a few sessions of positive index movement in the review period, as the BSE gave up the gains it had achieved earlier in the spring in May and closed roughly at levels last seen in early Feb. With no roses awarded to any sector, the banking sub-index, down 8.5%, got stuck with the thorns as the BSE’s worst performer in May. United Gulf Bank, Ahli United Bank and Ithmaar Bank were the bottom trio in performance, losing 22.5%, 14.3% and 10.5% respectively.
Doha SM
Current year high: 7,801.33 Current year low: 5,731.30
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 6,974.96 Period change: -7.58%
The second biggest GCC loser in the May review period was the Qatar Exchange. Industries Qatar and Barwa Real Estate Co, two heavyweights in the Qatari economy, found themselves among the biggest losers with drops of 12.7% and 12.65% respectively. Qatar Islamic Insurance was the best performer with a 9.5% gain. In terms of sectors indices, insurance looked, for the moment, recession proof while industry underperformed the market. The slides of the Doha and Riyadh bourses reflected weakening oil prices, but the real coupling appeared to be with global investor fears.
Tunis SE
Current year high: 6,929.40 Current year low: 5,407.31
> Review period: Closed: May 21 – 5,928.03 Period change: 2.44%
The decoupling from international fears that the GCC and many other emerging markets would have wished for last month, did happen in the Maghreb. The Tunindex of the Tunisian Stock Exchange showed a countercyclical and all the more respectable gain of 2.44% in the review period, closing at near record highs reached two days earlier. The Tunis Stock Exchange is now up 14.8% this year. Market debutant Tunis Re led the monthly list of gainers with a 51.8% share price climb, while tire maker STIP and dairy firm Tunis Lait also rallied.
Casablanca SE
Current year high: 12,457.59 Current year low: 9,997.56
> Review period: Closed: May 21 – 12,370.36 Period change: -0.73%
Against expectations, the closer to Europe, the more confidence the region’s bourse actors seem to radiate this spring; the second strongest gainer in MENA after Tunisia was the CSE. Year to date, the CSE is the region’s indisputable star gainer, up 18.42% since Jan 1. The best gainers in Morocco in May were Nexans, an electrical equipment manufacturer, transport firm Timar, and Mangem, a mining company. All three stocks rose in the 25% range. Market cap leader Maroc Telecom fell by 0.95%.
Egypt CASE
Current year high: 7,603.04 Current year low: 5,229.40
> Review period: Closed: May 23 – 6,393.67 Period change: -16%
A high rise goes before a mighty fall, or so was the implied message of the Egyptian Stock Exchange’s EGX 30 index, which presented strong volatility in May and dropped almost 1,200 points over the review period. For the year to date, the index stayed in the black, but only just. All three market cap heavyweights with more than $5 billion in valuation were drawn into the fall. Orascom Construction Holding gave up 11.2%, Orascom Telecom was hit with a 22.7% drop and Telecom Egypt weakened by 8.8%.
