Bahrain Stock Exchange Securities & Investment Research Weekly Report June 13 to June 17

Price indices improved in all the GCC markets except Bahrain. The Oman index rose 2.6% to 233.79 points, the UAE index was up 2.5% to 3349.3, the Kuwait index 2.4% to 1618.1 and the Saudi Arabia 1.6% to 1458.1. The Bahrain Index lost 48% of its gains of last week. After gaining 19 points the prior week, the BSE index lost 9.1 points to close at 2137 points. Once again declines out numbered advances 7 to 6. The BSE index is very sensitive to the heavy weight Investcorp. Being the highest in market capitalisation, any slight movement in this share price does effect its sector index as well as the market index. Investcorp shares lost 8 cents in the week moving the investment banking sector 1.3% lower. Arig shares were the major gainer this week rising 3% to close at $1.03. The company has announced that it will buy 10% of its own shares totaling 360 million shares over a period of time. Blico (Bahrain Light Company) is currently raising BD 0.5 million through a rights issue.