In a mixed week for Arab stock markets, the Egyptian and Palestinian bourses were the hardest hit, having lost 4.1 percent and 4.8 percent of their value, respectively.
The Hermes Financial Index in Egypt plunged 4.1 percent to close at 5,285.55 points, due to sharp drops in telecom and media stocks. The Egyptian index lost 32.9 percent of its value since the beginning of the year, and has reached its lowest level in more than seven years.
The Palestinian Jerusalem Index ended the week 4.8 percent lower at 155.79 points, on account of the continuous conflict with Israel. The index is down 25 percent since the January, according to AFP news agency.
Lebanon’s BLOM index was down 1.4 percent at 464.16 points, due to the 4.6 percent drop in market-leader Solidere—the real estate company in charge of the post-war construction of Beirut.
In the Gulf region, Kuwait’s KSE index and the NBAD index in the UAE closed 1.3 percent and 0.1 percent lower, at 1,695.30 points and 2,426.41, respectively. Kuwait’s bourse, however, is still 25.2 percent higher since January. Qatar’s CBQ index, on the other hand, rose 1.1 percent to close on 246.58 points, while Saudi Arabia’s NCFEI index reached an all-time high of 2,497.17 points due to strong gains of SABIC and bank shares.
The best performer of the week was Bahrain’s BSE index which gained 1.7 percent to close at 1,712.81 points, on account of positive corporate results for the second half of 2001.
Oman’s MSM index rose 0.7 percent to 172.09 points, whereas the ASE index in Jordan gained a mere 0.2 percent to 144.13 points. In Morocco, the CSE index inched up 0.1 percent to 618.01 points, while the Tunindex in Tunisia dropped 0.3 percent to 1,324.06 points. — (MENA Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
