Moving towards more regulated markets, stock exchanges, and away from fragmented over the counter markets is a good indicator for the prospect of the capital markets in the country. This week, trading value shed around 36 percent, while the market performance came in the negative territory after shedding 0.3 percent. The SC UAE Index closed the week at 1,131.56 points, down from 1,134.97 points recorded in a week earlier. Emaar Properties had the lion's share of trading activity, which came in at 59.6 million dirhams, 60 percent of the total market turnover. Among other highly traded stocks was First Gulf Bank which has been rallying since its listing on the ADSM. The bank is trading now at a PE of 24.8 X, while its PBVS is at 2.79 times, which is way above the traded prices of its peers.
The week also witnessed the announcement of Etisalat's half-year corporate earnings that came in at 1.23 billion dirhams, compared with 2.5 billion dirhams for the whole financial year of 2001. As to the market performance, Emaar Properties closed the week up 0.8 percent after closing at 24 dirhams. National Bank of Abu Dhabi followed suit as it added 1.5 dirhams to 86.5 dirhams. Blue-chip Etisalat ended the week on a negative note, as its share prices shed 1 dirham to 121 dirhams.
It was another bad week for the Kuwaiti bourse, as the SC Kuwait Index shed 0.6 percent to 1,664.96 points. The current performance of the bourse can be attributed to the prevailing regional tensions, add to that the seasonality that characterizes the Gulf region where sluggish activity dominates the sizzling summer. Trading value dropped during the week to 45.9 million dinars from 47.4 million dinars recorded in the previous week. Trading value has been dropping consecutively since the start of the month, as it dropped by around 49 percent the previous week. Among the week's major decliners was Shuaiba Paper Co that shed by 10.8 percent after announcing disappointing first-half results. Among the blue-chips, National Bank of Kuwait closed the week flat at 940 fils, and Mobile Telecom - (Tele) followed suit ending the week unchanged at 1.84 dinars.
Led by the drop in Rajhi shares, the Saudi market kept on it downward trend for the week the ended on Thursday. Rajhi's share prices dropped by 29 riyals to end the week at 605.5 riyals upon the news about a lawsuit filed against a number of Saudi firms by families in the US. The SC Saudi Index lost 1.17 percent of its value to end at 1,227.31 points, while trading value gained 9 percent to 2.3 billion riyals.
The Saudi market has been falling in the last month due to lower-than-expected first-half results, an annual summer lull and the political tension prevailing in the region. SABIC was among the decliners, as its share prices shed by 0.25 riyals to 162 riyals, while Saudi Investment Bank was among the advancers after adding 4 riyals and closing at 261.25 riyals.
