(Jordan Times) – The Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) recorded a slight improvement at the end of the week-long trading as a result of an increase in the share price of Arab Bank stocks, brokers said Thursday.
The weekly ASE bulletin showed that the price index closed at 138.6 points compared to 135.1 points in the previous week, a 2.5 percent increase.
The bulletin showed that the weekly turnover amounted to JD3.3 million, a 36 percent increase. The banking sector's index closed 9.02 point higher than recorded last week.
The Arab Bank, the bourse's leading blue-chip which maintains more than 60 percent of the value of the stock market's share prices, closed JD9 higher than the previous week's price with a turnover amounting to around JD1.4 million.
The brokers said that demand for Arab Bank shares exceeded the supply, which caused the increase in its share price.
They said Thursday's trading focused on the shares of the bank, which commanded the lion's share of the weekly trading.
“Any increase in the Arab Bank's share price would reflect positively on the market,” one broker said.
“The Arab Bank's share price has reached a level that has become very attractive to investors who decided to benefit from the bank's low share price of last week thinking it was time to have a piece of the big cake and buy Arab Bank shares,” the broker, who asked not to be named, added.
Brokers said that investors are waiting for the half-year results of the firms listed in the bourse, which would boost or cause a retreat in the activities on the stock market.
The results are expected to appear in the next two weeks, they said.
The weekly bulletin showed that shares of 25 firms recorded an increase in their prices, 43 firms registered a decline, while shares of 21 firms witnessed no change in their prices.
By Tareq Ayyoub
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
