The Beirut Stock Exchange’s BSI closed at 1,277.34 points on Sept. 26, representing a year-to-date improvement in the index of 7.79%. In contrast to the country’s weak economy, there was good news for several equities. Real estate firm Solidere edged above $17 in the last week of September after trading in the low to mid-$16 range earlier in the month on increasing demand. Banking stocks and GDRs, most importantly Audi and Blom, were buoyed by talk of regional investor interest for taking a sizeable stake in a local bank. In future telecom privatization steps, the government wants to open mobile operators to wider ownership by listing one third of their shares on the BSE. Good and bad news were supplied on the political and security side, starting with good through the defeat of the Nahr al-Bared insurgency. Deplorable to the highest extent was the murder of MP Antoine Ghanem; simple exasperation followed upon the charade-esque announcement to dismiss the parliamentary session for presidential elections on Sept. 23 and reconvene a month later.
Beirut SE: Blom (1 month)
Current Year High: 1,526.31 Current Year Low: 1,168.36
The Amman Stock Exchange comes out of the summer on an upwind. The ASE Index ended a one-month losing streak in mid-September and moved up over 140 points in the space of a week, closing at 5730.46 points on Sept. 26. When compared to the GCC bourses, this put the ASE on middle ground on a one-month basis but the Jordanian exchange lags behind most GCC markets in the year-to-date. Banking stocks, above all Arab Bank, contributed to the market’s gains from mid-September. The share price of real estate firm Tameer Jordan improved by over 7% in the second half of September. Local investment holding United Arab Investors Company (UAIC) sold a 5% stake in Tameer Jordan to Saudi Arabia’s Savola Group early in the month. UAIC stock rose by 21% between the start of the month and Sep 26. To increase investor access to market information, the ASE launched a new online stock tracking service that went live Sept. 16.
Amman SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 6,543.67 Current Year Low: 5,267.27
The Abu Dhabi Securities Market ended the month up 17.61% year-to-date, the third best performance this year among GCC stock exchanges. After an unexciting start into the month, the ADSM Index improved 110 points from Sept. 17 to close at 3,527.75 points on Sept. 26. Real estate stocks RAK Properties, Aldar and Sorouh continued climbing from mid-September but the latter two saw some profit taking on Sept. 26. Energy stock Taqa tended sideways during the month. Taqa announced its third major purchase in the Canadian energy sector with placing a friendly offer for gas and oil producer PrimeWest Energy Trust in a transaction worth $4.9 billion. In rate decisions with potential impact on inflation, the UAE central bank initiated two rate cuts on Certificates of Deposit but denied that a unilateral revaluation of the dirham could be on the agenda. The ADSM appointed a former CEO of the Irish Stock Exchange as its new director general in mid-September.
Abu Dhabi SM (1 month)
Current Year High: 3,705.32 Current Year Low: 2,839.16
The Omani bourse was a top performer among regional stock markets in September, with an index gain of over 5.4% in course of the month. Reaching a new historic peak, the Muscat Securities Market closed at 7,008.38 points on Sept. 26. Subscription in the initial public offering of Galfar Engineering set a new record for the MSM with 14.5 times oversubscription. Industrial shares were active and Raysut Cement rallied in the second half of the month. In the development with the strongest impact on MSM trading activity, banking heavyweight BankMuscat announced that it agreed on $619 million shareholding participation by Dubai’s state-owned Dubai Financial Group by way of a 15% capital increase. The bank wants to expand its business internationally; its shares, valued at OMR 1.475 per share in the deal, rose steeply in the third week of September and closed at OMR 1.503 on Sept. 26.
Muscat SM (1 month)
Current Year High: 7,008.38 Current Year Low: 4,718.74
The Bahrain Stock Exchange Index closed at 2,538.62 points on September 26, up by some 10 points when compared with the start of the month and 18 points higher than an intra-month low of 2,520.19 points on Sept. 16. Volumes remained limited, with banking stocks among the leaders in activity. Bahrain Islamic Bank signaled serious regional growth intentions with a 100% rights issue worth $225 million that was fully subscribed in the second-half of September. Bahrain Islamic Bank doesn’t see much trading but Kuwait’s Securities House divested a 7.59 stake in the bank on Sept. 24. Two banks that are part of the Al Baraka Banking Group in Bahrain, Al Baraka Islamic Bank and investment banking specialist Al Amin Bank, announced that they will merge into a single institution. In a regional transaction, the acquisition of at least 60% in investment bank TAIB Bank through Dubai Financial Group moved forward with approval by TAIB Bank shareholders. Trading in TAIB Bank on the BSE has been suspended since mid-May.
Bahrain SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 2,592.02 Current Year Low: 2,106.70
September brought relief to the Doha Securities Market and saw the index on Sept. 23 return to levels near its year-high of 7,957.72 points from early July. Moving up in stages throughout the month, the DSM Index closed at 7,892.78 on Sept. 26, up by over 408 points, or 5.4%, since the beginning of the month. In equity news, Aamal, a planned Qatari holding company for trade and real estate, said it wants to open an IPO to subscription from expatriates as the first primary issue to approach to foreigners. Inversely, other Qatari entities had outbound cross border activities high on their agenda. Commercialbank, the country’s number two, gained approvals from central banks in Qatar and the UAE to acquire 40% in Sharjah-based United Arab Bank (UAB) in a $601 million transaction. Commercialbank’s share price appreciated 7% in September. In competition to Bourse Dubai’s bid for international forays into exchange operations, the Qatar Investment Authority bought a 20% stake in the London Stock Exchange and almost 10% in Scandinavia’s OMX.
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: 2,132.41
The Tunisian bourse softened further in September, with the Tunindex dropping from 2,502.79 points on September 3 to 2,445.51 points at market close on September 26. Compared with its year-high of 2,712.33 points six months ago, the index is down by around 10%, but still stands 4.9% better than at the beginning of 2007. Market heavyweight SFBT weakened by almost 5%. Aviation stocks Tunisair and Karthago Airlines were among the losers during September; Tunisair’s share price slipped by more than 7%. Bucking the market trend, the share price of insurance firm STAR moved up from TD 18.80 to 21.10 in the course of the month.
Casablanca SE All Shares (1 month)
Current Year High: 13,506.29 Current Year Low: 7,704.66
The Casablanca Stock Exchange’s Casa All Shares Index closed at 12,681.70 points on September 26, after retreating from an all-time high of 13,506.29 points reached on the fifth of the month. With a year-to-date value increase of 33.8%, the Moroccan bourse is the region’s highest performer, ahead of Kuwait and Oman. Maroc Telecom saw some volatility during the month and closed at MAD 138.25 on Sept. 26. Real Estate firm CGI, in its second month of trading, remained above MAD 2,000 per share with intra-month share price fluctuation between MAD 2,300 and MAD 2,700. The stock had debuted in August at MAD 952. Leading bank Attijariwafa Bank traded sideways in the second half of September, after a spike in its share price in the first week of the month.
Cairo SE: Hermes (1 month)
Current Year High: 75,918.68 Current Year Low: 54,667.56
After being hit by the fallout from international markets — credit crunch and sub-prime fears — the Cairo and Alexandria Exchanges recovered their earlier momentum in September and soared to a record high of more than 75,918 points on Sept. 19. Add in some profit taking in the following week and the EFG Hermes Index closes at strong 75,099.66 points on Sept. 26, more than 6,000 points up from the start of the month. Foreign investors on CASE got a helpful morale boost reminder from the World Bank Group, which named Egypt top country for improving business regulations in its latest Doing Business survey. The construction sector saw good trading action; the share price of heavyweight Orascom Construction Industries advanced by 25% during the month. In banking, NBK’s formal bid for Al Watany Bank arrived with a $1 billion transaction value. To broaden the domestic market action, Egyptian authorities said they are going to launch a bourse for small and medium enterprise caps in October. CASE also wants to create a derivatives market before the end of 2007.
Dubai FM (1 month)
Current Year High: 4,927.42 Current Year Low: 3,658.13
The Dubai Financial Market Index had a calmer month compared with the turmoil of August but remained one of the GCC’s poorer performers. The index closed at 4,222.48 points on Sept. 26, compared with a close at 4,255.29 points on Aug 30. Debutant of the month was real estate firm Deyaar, which closed at AED 1.85 on Sept. 26, compared with its Sept. 5 market entry at AED 1.02. Unsurprisingly, banks EBI and NBD progressed smoothly in their merger motions. Toward the end of September, Air Arabia and Deyaar saw substantial trade volumes but the market’s hottest newsmaker was Bourse Dubai, the brainy new entity apparently designed to capture an entire flock of finance flamingoes with a single net. After mis-stepping in their initial hasty offer for Nordic exchange operator OMX through unannounced book building, Bourse Dubai dealmakers excelled in a rapprochement where Nasdaq, LSE, OMX, and Bourse Dubai look like a big grinning family with intermingled stake holding. The DFM co. share price recovered nicely from a drop to AED 2.66 on Aug. 22; it closed at AED 3.14 on Sept. 26.
Kuwait SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 12,950.80 Current Year Low: 9,164.30
Cooling its ascent in its seventh straight month of gains, the Kuwait Stock Exchange Index stood at 12,883.80 points at the end of the September 26 trading day, down by 67 points from a record high of 12,950.80 points it scaled on Sept. 23. The KSE value gain since the start of 2007 now stands at almost 28%. Real estate and investment stocks accounted for a big chunk of trading during the month whereby some real estate and investment holding companies displayed sharply divergent price movements. Burgan Holding was a gainer with a 20% rise during the month to Sept. 26 while Jeezan dropped 28% in reversal of its meteoric ascent a month earlier. The general assembly of NBK, the country’s biggest bank, approved a 20% capital increase through a rights issue with aim to finance regional expansion and Kuwait Finance House declared its intent to establish a $356 million venture for trading of Sukuk in a secondary market.
Saudi Arabia SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 11,410.04 Current Year Low: 6,861.80
The TASI index slipped in September, closing at 7,929.71 points on Sept. 26, some 144 points lower than its value on Sept. 1. In mid-month, the market tested the resistance line of 7,800 points. Large company stocks, real estate and banking shares felt selling pressure in a month that saw the Saudi Stock Exchange perform at the lower end of the spectrum of regional stock markets. In an encouraging move, market regulator CMA announced late in the month that GCC nationals will henceforth be treated equally to Saudi citizens in matters pertaining to trading shares on the SSE, although not in primary market offerings. Media reported on an opaque litigation case that was filed by privately held Jadawel International against Emaar Properties, the UAE real estate developer, and allegedly involved their Emaar Saudi joint venture. Meanwhile, SSE-listed Emaar the Economic City announced that it sold all units it had offered in a first batch of residences in the King Abdallah Economic City.
