AMMAN — Optimism over second quarter financial results of public shareholding companies changed the hesitant mood of investors at the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) and put the index on a positive course.

The ASE index finished last week at 5,774.60 points, an increase of 0.23 per cent. Market capitalisation rose slightly to reach JD22.4 billion, up by 0.21 per cent for the week.

Only the indices measuring real estate and services recorded gains last week, increasing by 2.6 per cent and 0.68 per cent respectively. The industry sector was the biggest loser as the sector’s index dropped by 1.7 per cent.

More than 85.3 million shares exchanged hands but the average daily trading value dropped by 12.9 per cent to JD37.3 million. Overall, advancers outnumbered decliners as 87 companies out of 181 advanced, while 86 declined.

In terms of value traded by sector, real estate came in first place accounting for 35.8 per cent of the total value traded followed by the industry sector at 15.7 per cent. The diversified financial services sector came in third place at 14.5 per cent of the value traded last week.

The most actively traded shares were Tameer Jordan, First Finance Corporation and Jordan Industrial Resources with a combined value traded of JD35.3 million accounting for 19 per cent of the week’s total value traded.

Several block deals were executed, the most significant of which were deals on shares of the Middle East Complex and Resources Company for Development and Investment with transaction values of JD2.9 million and JD1.3 million respectively.

Iraq held the number one spot in terms of foreign investments during the first half of this year with JD38.7 million. The United Arab Emirates followed with investments worth JD12.8 million and Saudi Arabia held the third spot with JD11.25 million.

The Central Bank of Jordan revealed that the number of construction permits in the Kingdom rose in the first four months of this year by 7.2 per cent. There was an increase in the total construction area by 3.7 per cent which in turn had a positive impact on the growth of the sector.

Net foreign aid declined during the first four months of this year by JD9.8 million or 13.7 per cent to JD61.6 million according to the Central Bank of Jordan.

The Arab Bank secured a $500 million debut term loan facility, with Credit Agricole, HSBC Middle East and JP Morgan appointed as underwriting mandated lead arrangers for the agreement. It was launched into the market early last month with total commitments reaching $713 million from 29 banks. The share price of Arab Bank closed at JD21.52 up by 1.13 per cent while trading at a forward P/E multiple of 14.44x.

Jordan Telecom Group started the second phase of introducing Orange by rebranding the group’s fixed-line services Jordan Telecom under the Orange trademark, the commercial brand of the world’s leading telecommunication service operator France Telecom Group. The share price of Jordan Telecom ended last week at JD4.26 up by a slight 0.24 per cent.

The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance extended an JD11 million credit to the Integrated Transport Company to finance the purchase of 116 new buses which will bring up the number of the company’s total vehicles to 436. The share price of the bank rose by 0.98 per cent, closing at JD6.16.

Jordan Securities Commission approved a capital increase of JD56 million for Arab Jordan Investment Bank through the capitalisation of JD9.2 million from retained earnings and JD4 million from the share premium account, in addition to a public subscription for 42.8 million shares. The bank’s share price closed at JD3.1 down by 0.32 per cent.

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