Beirut SE: Blom (1 month)
Current Year High: 1,526.31 Current Year Low: 1,168.36
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The Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) closed December 18 with a Blom Stock Index reading of 1,543.72 points in a period that saw the number of delays in presidential elections increase to nine. The political wrangling was not good for investor moods or any other economic assessments; thus after the assassination of leading military officer Brig. Gen. Francoise el-Hajj and the murder’s implications for the political situation, the BSE could not maintain its year high of 1574.75 points reached in early December. The exchange is nonetheless in very positive territory at the end of 2007 when compared with the war period in mid 2006 and the internal crisis months since December of the same year. In the week leading to Dec. 14, Solidere supplied 85% of traded value; the scrip in its two incarnations closed cents from $24 on Dec. 18. Banks also could defend their overall good standings; Audi and Blom GDRs respectively closed at $76.95 and $93.20 on Dec. 18.
Amman SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 7,298.95 Current Year Low: 5,296.32
The Amman Stock Exchange Index scored a 20-month high on Dec. 10 at 7,298.95 points before entering the Adha holidays with a close of 7,272.57 points on Dec. 17 after a spate of profit harvesting in the second week of the month. The market’s optimism thus has remained fairly relentless on a three-month trajectory that pushed the exchange up by over 1,600 points since mid-September and accounted for almost all its gains in the 2007 balance. The government added to the year-end stock boom by finally privatizing Royal Jordanian airlines in a 71% public sell-off that deserved the privatization label. The stock traded for a single day before Adha. According to regulator statements, RJ shares found institutional buyers at home, in Arab countries, and outside the region whereas retail buyers in the IPO were in their overwhelming majority Jordanians. Hikma Pharmaceuticals made an offer to buy Arab Pharmaceutical Manufacturing at a substantial premium to the latter’s recent share price and APM shareholders accepted the offer, bringing further consolidation to Jordan’s important pharmaceutical industry.
Abu Dhabi SM (1 month)
Current Year High: 4,291.22 Current Year Low: 2,839.16
The Abu Dhabi Securities Market seemed insatiable in its aspirations with a rise to a year high of 4,543.14 points on Dec. 16 before slowing a tad to its close at 4,520.80 points the next day and a well-deserved holiday break. Real estate and construction stocks paced the ADSM’s gains in December. Telecommunications firm Etisalat announced a purchase of 16% worth $438 million in a mobile operator in Indonesia. The company’s shares experienced a day of exceptional trading volume on Dec. 9; the stock advanced well in the first ten days of December and saw some selling thereafter. Shares of credit firm Financehouse shot up more 36% in a week and the company attributed the sudden rise to multiple factors working together. Apart from a small one-day dip in the Dubai Financial Market index on Dec. 10, the ADSM and DFM indices moved in tandem through the month, with the ADSM one step ahead at a gain of 5.93% from Dec. 1 to 17.
Dubai FM (1 month)
Current Year High: 5,775.67 Current Year Low: 3,658.13
The Dubai Financial Market stayed its course of strength and closed at 5,737.39 points on Dec. 17, up 39% from the start of 2007. Both the DFM and the ADSM traded in December at levels which the exchanges had last seen in late spring 2006. Leading developer Emaar Properties said it focuses on international expansion and may raise debt to finance its growth. The stock made some gains in December but is still cheaper than target prices given it by most analysts. Real estate stocks Deyaar and Union Properties also scored gains in December, and so did real estate finance stock Tamweel which launched a $300 million exchangeable Sukuk that was oversubscribed “within hours”, according to the company. In the national outlook, currency alignment factors to the US dollar carry the potential to spice the UAE financial and equity markets with some uncertainties.
Kuwait SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 13,175.20 Current Year Low: 9,584.50
The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) was one of two tail performers (the other was Bahrain) among GCC stock markets in the truncated 2007 tail period of trading between Dec. 2 and Dec. 17. But as all GCC markets were positive in December, the KSE index moved up 2.24% over the period, to close Dec. 17 at 12,312.90 points on the eve of the Adha holidays. Trade volumes descended in the course of the month as, in addition to a pre-holiday lull, observers described investor attention as gyrating toward the upcoming results season. In sector terms, investment stocks did well. Macroeconomics seemed encouraging enough, as the year’s buoyant oil income gave Kuwaiti state revenues a 40% boost in the first 11 months of 2007 when compared with the entire year of 2006.
Saudi Arabia SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 11,349.99 Current Year Low: 6,861.80
The crown of best performer in December 2007 went unquestioningly to the Saudi Stock Exchange (SSE) with a 16.6% gain in the Tadawul All Shares Index between Dec. 1 and Dec. 17 when the market closed at 11,349.99 points. Passing the 11,000 points line on Dec. 12, the TASI in December moreover reached its highest readings since 0ct. 10, 2006. Heavyweight Sabic shot up by 24.8%. Banking and petrochemicals had notable advancers. The initial public offering of real estate firm Dar Al-Arkan was covered more than four times by demand. Savola Group and SEC announced hefty new projects. Also the bonus share made a comeback as banks ANB and Jazira proposed bonus issues of 43% and 33.3%. The strong performance of the SSE and most regional markets in the wane of 2007 is ever more remarkable when contextualized to global trends.
Muscat SM (1 month)
Current Year High: 9,057.78 Current Year Low: 5,532.64
The Muscat Securities Market took December as time to do the same as in most months of 2007 — move up. The index closed in heights the Omani bourse never reached before at 9,036.06 points on Dec. 18, near its historic high from a week earlier. For the year to date, the bourse tallied an index growth of 61.9%, the best upswing in the entire Middle East and North Africa region. Investment and brokerage stocks were hot and analysts saw banking stocks as fraught with expectations. Newcomer Galfar climbed to OR 1.388 on Dec. 18. Alliance Housing Bank recorded an upswing with fluctuations as it tied the knot with Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank and the International Finance Corporation to become a commercial bank in 2008. Oman’s second telecommunications operator, Nawras, said it wants to go public some time in 2008 but the IPO decision is not firm yet.
Bahrain SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 2,684.14 Current Year Low: 2,106.70
The Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE) closed at 2,652.96 points on Dec. 18, marginally up by about 2% on the month but almost 20% on the year. Ahli United Bank reported high demand for its 10% rights issue; which closed on Dec. 2 with 364 shares subscribed at issue size of 300 million shares. Gulf Finance House was both a newsmaker and notable performer. The company said it will invest in establishing a $3 billion financial center in Tunisia, after the same mold as hubs in GCC locales such as Doha and Manama; its share price moved from BHD 2.8 on Dec. 2 to 3.06 on Dec. 18. The BSE announced that it will move quarters and picked the Bahrain Financial Harbor as its future domicile. Although the smallness of the kingdom’s equities markets is a handicap, local analysts have voiced expectations for a good 2008 after the BSE announced that the cumulative profits of listed companies in the first three quarters of 2007 were up almost 45% year-on-year.
Doha SM: Qatar (1 month)
Current Year High: 10,057.59 Current Year Low: 5,944.03
A sudden 4% slide in the Doha Securities Market on Dec. 2 made the index dip below 9,000 points but for the time being put a halt to the market’s retreat from its Nov. 4 year high above 10,000 points. Thus, December awarded buying opportunities as the DSM rallied for a week after which it relaxed and closed at 9,462.40 points on Dec. 17 — up 3.7% on the month and close to 33% since the start of 2007. The insurance sector had a winning streak in December while the industrial sub-index, paced by Industries Qatar, softened. Newcomers added some spice to trading; conglomerate Aamal Holding advanced from its debut at QR 11.60 on Dec. 5 to QR 29.30 on Dec. 17. Qatar Oman Investment Co, which assumed trading as the 40th equity on the DSM Dec. 12, gained when measured by its issue price of QR 10.3 but had a sobering few days. After its first day open at QR 30.10, it fell back to QR 20.30 at the Dec. 17 close.
Tunis SE (1 month)
Current Year High: 2,712.33 Current Year Low: 2,316.10
The Tunisian Stock Exchange traded sideways in December and its close at 2,602.43 points on Dec. 18 represented a change of mere 4 points vis-à-vis its reading on Nov. 30. Year to date, the index was up 11.64% on Dec. 18. Of the three strongest stocks by market capitalization, drinks maker SFBT and bank BIAT moved sideways while Banque de Tunisie achieved modest gains in the first half of December. The Tunisian and Moroccan bourses differed from most Arab stock markets in that both recorded less growth in 2007 than in 2006; however, they did better than most regional markets in having gains during both years. The exchange that took the hardest beating was the Palestinian bourse which had lost 46.4% in 2006 and whose index in mid-December stood almost 16% below its reading at the start of 2007.
Casablanca SE All Shares (1 month)
Current Year High: 13,506.29 Current Year Low: 9,367.89
Shares on the Casablanca Stock Exchange closed at 12,586.08 points on December 17; more than 920 points lower than the index’s year high reported on Sept. 5. Although the index recorded gains in the trading sessions just ahead of the Adha holidays, the Casablanca bourse lost over 3% in the past three months and was the only North African market to recede on both its one-month and three-month performances in the last quarter of 2007. August entrant CGI traded sideways in December while October debutant, Atlanta Insurance, lost some ground during the month. Market heavyweight Maroc Telecom recovered in December share price losses it had seen in the second half of November. According to analysts, investors initiated some shifts in their portfolios away from local equities in response to a plan by Morocco’s government to hike its capital gains tax in 2008 to 15% from 10%. At its close on Dec. 18, the index was up 32.77% since the start of 2007.
Cairo SE: Hermes (1 month)
Current Year High: 90,771.12 Current Year Low: 57,013.49
Taking a record high above 90,770 points on Dec. 9, the Cairo and Alexandria Exchanges ended a week of profit taking and new demand with a close of 89,993 points in the benchmark Hermes Index on Dec. 17. From Dec. 2 to Dec. 17, the index added 2.41%. Orascom Construction Industries was a main driver of the December gains and rose 10% during the period. OCI also agreed to sell its cement unit to multinational Lafarge, bagging a deal worth close to $13 billion. Among big name companies, Orascom Telecom Holding sold its stake in Hong Kong’s Hutchison Telecom for $962 million but denied media speculations that OTH itself could be for sale. OTH reached a year high of EGP 90.50 on Dec. 9. In the financial sector, the share price of investment bank EFG-Hermes gained 4.5% between Dec. 2 and Dec. 17.
