The Egyptian stock exchange's Hermes index fell four percent in the past week as the shares of its two major companies, Mobinil and Egypt Media, declined in value, a Saudi-based financial institute said Saturday.
The Hermes index closed the week at 8,116.16 after Mobinil shares dropped 12.3 percent and Egypt Media lost 5.5 percent, Bakheet Financial Advisors said.
Last week, the Egyptian index climbed 3.5 percent as telecommunications stocks rallied.
Gulf markets, except for Qatar's, ended the week higher, "despite oil price volatility and the OPEC decision to raise oil production by 800,000 barrels per day," BFA said.
The week's top performer, the United Arab Emirates' NBAD index, increased by 1.7 percent to close at 2,635.22 points thanks to a rise in shares of Emaar real estate company of Dubai.
Oman's MSM index moved up 1.4 percent to close the week at 194.27 thanks to a 4.7 percent rally in National Bank of Oman shares.
The Kuwaiti stock market rose 1.1 percent to close at 1,448.40 points "as a result of investors' confidence in government steps to implement reforms."
The Saudi stock market, the most highly capitalized in the Arab world, rose 0.6 percent, with the NCFEI index closing at 2,350.75 points.
Bahrain's BSE index ended the week 0.1 percent higher at 1,881.98 while the Qatari market fell back by 0.3 percent to close at 213.31.
The Jordanian and Tunisian stock markets recorded slight increases over the week.
Jordan's Amman Stock Exchange Index rose 0.6 percent to 134.22 while the TUNINDEX went up by 0.5 percent to 1,451.72.
The second biggest loser of the week in the Arab world was the Palestinian Jerusalem index, which fell 3.4 percent to 251.28 on the delay in declaring an independent Palestinian state, BFA said.
In Lebanon, the BLOM index closed 1.7 percent lower at 665.33 on a poor performance by the bourse's largest company, real estate and construction firm Solidere, which lost 5.8 percent.
The Lebanese stock market rose 9.9 percent last week following Solidere owner and former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's victory in parliamentary elections.
Morocco's CSE index lost 0.5 percent to close the week at 727.61.
©Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
