(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Despite the decline in market capitalisation of Arab Bank and Arab Potash, the general index of the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) ended last week slightly up.
Driven by positive performance of other strategic companies amid better liquidity levels, the index closed week at 2,648.89 points, an increase of 0.14 per cent over the closing level at the end of the previous week.
We anticipate that the market will this week trail the performance of other international and regional markets which have recorded significant gains in the past few weeks as investors start building new positions in the shares of companies which are expected to report strong third quarter earnings.
Indices of diversified financial services, banks and services recorded gains while the industrial sector posted the largest loss as its index dropped by 2 per cent.
As for trading activity, 116.5 million shares exchanged hands leaving gains at 90 companies and losses at 78 firms out of 197 traded corporations.
In terms of value traded by sector, services came in first place accounting for 30.1 per cent of the total followed by the real estate sector with 22.7 per cent and then the industrial which accounted for 22.7 per cent of the total value traded.
The most actively traded shares last week were those of South Electronics, Royal Jordanian and Darwish Al Khalili & Sons with a combined value traded of JD31.2 million accounting for 19.2 per cent of total value traded.
Several block deals were executed most important were on shares of Al Ahlia Enterprises, Middle East Diversified Investments and Jordan Express with transaction values amounting to JD4.6 million JD0.8 million and JD0.6 million respectively.
Model Restaurants resumed trading as of October 11 after the company submitted its 2009 semi-annual results to the Jordanian Securities Commission (JSC).
JSC's board of commissioners declined a request by Unified Transport & Logistics to extend the public placement period.
A source at Jordan Telecom revealed that a decision concerning the choice of a global operator to cooperate with in building the 3G network is imminent in the next few days.
Data issued by the Department of Statistics (DoS), showed that national exports declined during the first eight months of 2009 by 19.4 per cent while reexports regressed by 18.1 per cent compared with the same period of 2008.
Other DoS data revealed a 6.3 per cent increase in the agricultural price index in August 2009 compared with August 2008.
According to a report issued by the Central Bank of Jordan, money supply growth dropped 6.3 per cent in the first eight months of the year compared to a growth of 14.6 per cent in the same period last year.
The DoS announced that the consumer price index declined by 0.7 per cent in the first nine months of 2009 compared with the same period last year and that the industrial production index went down by 2.1 per cent in the first eight months of 2009 compared with same period in 2008.
Disclaimer: The above information and opinions have been compiled in good faith from sources believed to be reliable, but Capital Investments makes no warranty as to the truth and accuracy of the information contained herein. All opinions expressed are not to be regarded as investment advice, and are only for informative purposes. Therefore, Capital Investments accepts no liability whatsoever for any loss of any kind arising out of the use of all or any part of this report.
