(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The general index of Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) went down by 2 per cent closing last week at 2,736.50 points driven by falling prices of a number of heavyweight stocks following the distribution of cash dividends and the announcement of first quarter results by the majority of these companies.
As for this week, we anticipate strong demand on the shares of companies that announced strong first quarter figures as investors are expected to base their investment decisions on these results.
All sector indices regressed last week particularly the diversified financial services which posted the largest loss of 4.7 per cent.
Regarding trading activity, 139.1 million shares exchanged hands. leaving gains at 73 companies and losses at 100 entities out of 202 traded corporations.
In terms of value traded by sector, the diversified financial services came in first place accounting for 43.4 per cent of the total followed by real estate sector with 23.2 per cent and then the services which accounted for 15.5 per cent of the value traded last week.
The most actively traded shares were those of Taameer Jordan Holdings, South Electronics Company and AD Dulayl Industrial Park with a combined amount of JD55.8 million accounting for 23.2 per cent of total value traded.
Several block deals were executed especially on shares of Jordan Telecom, United Arab Investors and Union Bank for Saving and Investment with transaction values of JD2 million, JD1.3 million and JD1 million.
Arab Bank Group announced 216 million profit during the first quarter of this year compared to 272 million during same period of last year.
Net income of Jordan Kuwait Bank amounted to JD14.3 million during January-March 2009 compared to JD13.2 during the same period in 2008.
Net profit of Jordan Steel dropped 47.8 per cent to JD3 million during the first three months of this year compared to JD5.7 million during January-March 2008.
Jordan Islamic Bank reported a net income of JD8.1 million in the first quarter of this year compared to JD7.8 million during the same period last year.
Cairo Amman Bank announced a net income of JD5.2 million during January-March 2009 compared to JD4.6 million during the same period in 2008.
Jordan Electric Power posted a net loss of JD0.7 million during January- March 2009 compared to a net profit of JD0.6 during the same period in 2008.
According to data issued by the Department of Statistics, the average wholesale trade price index rose by 5 per cent during the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year.
Jordan Insurance Commission revealed that gross written premiums in the market grew by 14.1 per cent to JD333 million in 2008.
The Ministry of Finance indicated in its latest financial bulletin that total domestic revenues and foreign grants increased by JD53.3 million or 4.5 per cent to JD1,244.3 million during the first quarter of 2009 compared to JD1,191.0 million during the same period in 2008.
The total amount of Jordanian remittances declined to JD207.5 million during March 2009, JD15 million, or 6.7 per cent lower than the level recorded in the same period last year.
