Investors on the Beirut Stock Exchange celebrated the summer last month, giving the market an additional break from the year’s customarily low trading volumes where politics and economic uncertainty are the bourse’s constant bothersome companions. The BSI index closed at 1,169.52 points on Aug 27. Construction supplies manufacturer Uniceramic announced that it lost $1.3 million in the first half of 2007, underscoring how Lebanon’s expected reconstruction boom has frayed after the Lebanese people were taken hostage by political figures that naiveté would have serve the country.

Beirut SE: Blom  (1 month)

Current Year High: 1,526.31         Current Year Low: 1,168.36

The Amman Stock Exchange had a slow month in which the ASE index fluctuated in the 5,700 range. It closed at 5,624.63 points on Aug 27, a tad below its standing at the start of 2007, which made the ASE the only noteworthy exchange in the MENA region to end August on negative territory for the year to date. The ASE accounts currently for about 3% of the combined market capitalization of Arab bourses. Trading volumes in August were subdued as per expectations for the vacation season; real estate stocks were under some pressure while the small insurance sub-index did better than other sectors in the second half of the month. Investment firm Tuhama had a successful start of trading on the ASE and Arab Jordan Investment Bank listed additional 42.8 million shares from a rights issue, increasing its share volume to 100 million shares. Insurance firm First Insurance commenced trading on Aug 27 with a first-day gain of 17% with trading volume of almost 950,000 shares.  

Amman SE  (1 month)

Current Year High: 6,543.67         Current Year Low: 5,267.27

The Abu Dhabi Securities Market showed a similar picture to its counterpart in Dubai, dropping slightly in the course of the month but suffering a very noticeable weak spell on Aug 22. The index clocked in at 3,436.11 points on Aug 27, down from 3,480.37 points on Jul 31. Energy company Taqa said late in the month that it has a war chest of $4 billion for international acquisitions. Energy sector stocks were among the ADSM’s leading performers along with real estate values that improved in the latter part of the month after they had been pushed down by investor fears over global and regional real estate trends in the first part. Financial talk in the UAE also had a lot to mull over the emergence of Dubai’s newly consolidated stock market operating entity, Dubai Bourse, and its attempt to expand into the international operator scene by making a $4 billion bid for the Scandinavian exchange operator, OMX, taking on a bidding competition with Nasdaq.

Abu Dhabi SM  (1 month)

Current Year High: 3,705.32         Current Year Low: 2,839.16

The Muscat Securities Market made gains in the first half of August but could not keep up its momentum when most GCC markets jittered around Aug 13. The index, which had reached a historic peak on Aug 12 at 6,793.91 points, retreated in the coming days and closed at 6,618.18 on Aug 27. However, it is still up on the month and, handsomely, on the year where it stands more than 18% up ytd. Investor attention focused on the $156 million initial public offering of construction firm Galfar Engineering and Contracting, which is set to be one of the MSM’s ten largest companies by market capitalization once it starts trading in October. Telecoms operator Omantel acquired a majority stake in Worldcell Telecom, a network in Pakistan.

Muscat SM  (1 month)

Current Year High: 6,504.18         Current Year Low: 4,718.74

The Bahrain Stock Exchange retreated from a year high of 2,592.02 points on August 8 to a close at 2,527.94 points on Aug 26. Like in some other GCC markets, mid-August was a period of regression under the impression of international stock price developments and credit crunch concerns in the global financial industry. Al-Baraka Banking Group, the Islamic finance specialist, reported that it was able to triple its profit in the second quarter of 2007, to almost $90 million. After failed takeover discussions in early August, Ahli United Bank rollercoastered on disappointed investor expectations.

Bahrain SE  (1 month)

Current Year High: 2,592.02         Current Year Low: 2,106.70

The Doha Securities Market closed August 27 at 7,456.4 points, representing a net contraction of about 130 points, or 1.6%, during the month. The DSM announced that combined profits of the exchange’s 37 listed companies in the first half of 2007 reached $2.4 billion, up 35% from the profits that listed firms had reported for the same period a year ago. Qatar’s Commercialbank and the United Arab Bank in the UAE emirate of Sharjah signed an agreement by which Commercialbank will seek to acquire a significant stake in UAB. International Bank of Qatar said it halted takeover tals with Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank.

Doha SM: Qatar  (1 month)

Current Year High: 7,957.72         Current Year Low: 5,825.80

Tunis SE  (1 month)

Current Year High: 2,712.33         Current Year Low: 2,004.02

The Tunisian bourse took the summer more relaxed than others, with the Tunindex moving sideways. The index closed at 2,493.67 points on August 27, quite insignificantly changed when compared with 2,474.26 points on Aug 1. A report in the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat said in August that the country is preparing a privatization move for a further stake in insurance provider Société Tunisienne d’Assurances et de Réassurances (STAR), in which state-owned entities currently hold about 50%. The insurer’s stock recently fluctuated around $15 per share. 

Casablanca SE All Shares  (1 month)

Current Year High: 12,723.23       Current Year Low: 7,704.66

The Casablanca All Shares Index, buoyed by the mandatory domesticity of its investor base, continued to amaze in August. It rose from 11,661.47 points on Aug 1 to 12,423.45 points on Aug 27 — not a historic high for the exchange but a gain of almost 762 points or 6.5%. The Moroccan bourse can boast of being the best climber in the MENA region for the first eight months of 2007; its year-to-date gain of 31.06% exceeds that of the Kuwait Stock Exchange. The Casablanca exchange also accounts now for a respectable 7% share in the combined market capitalization of MENA bourses. In company news, heavyweight Maroc Telecom reported an improvement in its first-half profit by 30%, to $477 million.

Cairo SE: Hermes  (1 month)

Current Year High: 74,964.86       Current Year Low: 52,654.94

No bourse in the Middle East presented its interaction with international market trends as strongly as the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges last month. After its rise of six months, the Hermes Index spiraled downward quickly as soon as August started with bad equity news from Wall Street, Asia, and Europe. The initial drop of almost 2,000 points took place still in July but the tremors continued with short interruptions until August 21 when it touched 67,000 points. The index recovered a bit by Aug 27, closing the day at 68,426.24 points but that was still a slide of 3,380 points — around 4.7% for the month. In company news, analysts lowered their evaluation of Orascom Telecom stock after the company pulled out of the bidding competition for a mobile operator license in Iraq but the analysts said the withdrawal was the right decision. Kuwait’s NBK offered the best bid for Al Watany Bank and wants to make a full acquisition of the Egyptian bank.