Jordan Times
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Amman Stock Exchange: weekly
analysis
AMMAN - The stock exchange index finished last week at 5,574.61 points, a
decline of 0.55 per cent. Market capitalisation dropped to JD21.8 billion, down
by 0.39 per cent for the week.
The indices measuring insurance, the real estate sector and diversified
financial services were the only indicators that recorded gains last week as
they increased by 2.55 per cent, 1.72 per cent and 1.47 per cent respectively.
The service sector was the biggest loser as its index posted a loss of 1.01 per
cent amidst low trading volumes.
As for trading activity, 76.15 million shares exchanged hands, while the average
daily trading value increased by 14.24 per cent to JD31.962 million. Overall,
advances outnumbered decliners as 89 companies out of 187 declined, while 81
advanced.
In terms of value traded by sector, the diversified financial services came in
first place accounting for 28.6 per cent of the total value traded followed by
the real estate sector with 24.2 per cent and then the industrial sector which
accounted for 14.5 per cent of the value traded last week.
The most actively traded shares were United Arab Investors, Al Sanabel
International Co. for Islamic Financial Investment and Arab American Takaful
Insurance with a combined value traded of JD45.96 million accounting for 28.76
per cent of the total value traded.
Several block deals were executed, the most significant of which were deals on
shares of Tameer Jordan and Middle East Complex with transaction values of JD2.4
million and JD1.2 million respectively.
Official statistics showed Iraq topping the list of foreign investments in
Jordan for the first eight months of this year with JD49million. Bahrain
followed with investments worth JD20 million and United Arab Emirates held the
third spot with JD13 million.
Net public debt for the first 7 months of this year rose by 2.8 per cent to
JD7.55 billion. The public debt for the mentioned period corresponds to 66.5 per
cent of gross domestic product for this year.
Net profit of United Arab Investors dropped by 23.68 per cent in the first half
of this year to JD7.7 million, compared to JD10.05 million during the same
period last year. The company’s share price closed at JD2.16 up by 2.37 per
cent.