Bahrain Stock Exchange Weekly Commentary - Week Ending Oct 24, 2002

Following the start of the third quarter earnings season, Bahrain equities ended the week with a marked improvement in investor sentiment. The buying spree was evident in the local market as 22 stocks exchanged hands, out of which 11 scrips gained ground while only 3 dropped in value. With the gainers outnumbering the losers by a wide margin, the SICO index surged by 2.6% while the BSE index improved by 1.8%.

BIB was firmly in the limelight with 2.3m shares exchanging hands accounting for the bulk of the market activity. The volume leader also posted the highest gains for the week, up 30% to close at 39 fils. AUB also witnessed its fair share of trading interest with 1.6m shares exchanging hands. The stock closed unchanged for the week at $0.270.

Notable climbers for the week included commercial banking stocks. With the exception of AUB, the other four commercial banking stocks all appreciated in value. BBK and BSB improved by 3.7% and 3.1%, respectively, while NBB rose by 2.3%. Bahrain Islamic Bank gained 2.9% on a mere volume of 10,000 shares.

On the other hand, fallers for the week were restricted to BMB, Taib Bank and BNHCO. BMB took the brunt of the selling pressure declining by 17.1% to close at a new year low at 34 fils. Taib Bank slipped by 2.5% on a turnover of 0.5m shares while BNHCO declined by 0.9% on a small turnover of 20,000 shares.