RIYADH, Sept 14: Growing concern that the United States will attack weighed heavily on Arab stock markets, Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) said Saturday, describing the week as “very dull”.
Only Egypt’s Hermes Financial Index, up 1.1 percent to 5,281.41, along with the CFG in Morocco — 0.9 per cent higher at 7,581.78 — were in positive territory, the Riyadh-based analysts said.
Investors showed active interest in Cairo after stock exchange and capital market reform.
Qatar’s CBQ Index took the brunt of the beating and plummeted 3.6 per cent to close the week on 416.45, BFA said, noting that it has been the best performer of Arab bourses this year and traders had locked in profits.
Frontline Kuwait was not far behind, shedding 3.5 per cent to 2,078 in weak trading.
In Jordan, which also borders Iraq, the Amman Stock Exchange fell three per cent and closed at 174.57.
The Palestinian Al-Quds index in Nablus opened only for one hour in an extraordinary trading session on September 9, as a result of the ongoing Israeli operations.
But that was enough for the market to drop 2.6 per cent to 154.75 hit by the slump in PalTel.
Next in the losers came Lebanon’s BLOM, down 1.9 per cent to 430.74 as market heavyweight Solidere lost 7.7 per cent.
The Tunindex in Tunis lost one per cent to 1,122.18, as did the United Arab Emirates NBAD Index to close on 3,391.38.
Bahrain’s BSE Index finished on 1,813.78 points, off 0.9 per cent, while the Saudi Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI), the largest capitalized Arab market, slipped 0.7 per cent to end the week on 2,660.05 points. Oman’s MSM Index slipped 0.3 per cent to 184.76 points.—AFP
