Amman Stock Exchange Weekly Report

During the last two trading sessions for the year the ASE index decreased to 170.02 Thus the ASE closed on bearish ground for the year, representing a year on year decrease of 1.56%. The market capitalization for the week stood at 5,028,953,990. As the year came to an end major house keeping deals took place during the last two trading sessions. It is important to note that what was driving the market was not the overall fundamentals of the companies in the stock exchange instead it was largely attributed to the political instability the middle east region witnessed during the last six months of the year.The ASE had a daily average volume of JD3,893,020 while shares traded ran an average of 2,616,962.

Following an amendment to the law governing the Industrial Development Bank's (INDV) establishment and operations, the bank will be transformed from being a specialized financial institution to a commercial development bank. Currently the bank provides loans to the industrial and tourism sector, thus the bank will soon be able to extend credit to commercial and other sectors as well. The year 2002 was a good year for INDV, during the first six months of the year INDV net income reached JD4.772 million, compared to a net loss of JD0.273 during the same period in 2001. Its year to date increase reached 24.68%, thus making the INDV the year-end star.