Bahrain Bourse index posts marginal growth

The Bahrain Bourse All Share Index stayed almost flat during February 2023, registering only a marginal growth of 0.2 per cent to close at 1,931.83 points.

However, Bahrain and Dubai were the only two markets in the GCC that continued to show gains for YTD-2023 at 1.9pc and 3pc, respectively.

Analysis by Kuwait-based Kamco Invest shows that in terms of sectoral performance at Bahrain Bourse, the materials index, which only has one constituent company (Alba), dominated the rest of the sectoral indices recording a gain of 1.6pc during February 2023 to close the month at 5,696.8 points.

Alba reported net profit of BD416.2m ($1.1b) for 2022 as compared with a profit of BD451.9m ($1.2bn) in 2021, attributing the 8pc dip in profits to the combination of many issues including the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, soaring energy prices and lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The financial index was the second biggest gainer among the indices edging up 0.5pc during February 2023 to close at 6,757.5 points.

On the decliners side, four of the seven sectoral indices in the Bahrain Bourse recorded monthly declines during February 2023 led by the real estate index which saw a 3.2pc drop to close the month at 2,845.4.

The monthly stock performance chart, according to Bloomberg data, was topped by Bahrain National Holding with a 15.9pc monthly return followed by Bahrain Islamic Bank and Solidarity Bahrain with gains of 9.0pc and 8.3pc, respectively.

Meanwhile, Ithmaar Holding Group led the monthly decliners with a 9.1pc share price fall, followed by Nass Corp and Al Baraka Banking Group with drops of 7.4pc and 4.5pc, respectively.

Trading activity on the exchange increased during February 2023 with volumes growing by 72.1pc to 59.8m shares as compared to 34.7m shares during January 2023.

Furthermore, total value traded on the exchange saw a steep growth of 57.9pc to BD23.1m in February 2023 as compared to BD14.7m during January 2023.

Al Salam Bank Bahrain topped the monthly volumes chart with 11.9m traded shares followed by Alba and GFH Financial Group which saw 11.4m and 11.3m of their shares changing hands during the month, respectively.

On the monthly value traded chart, Alba topped the list with BD13.9m worth of shares changing hands during the month, followed by KFH–Bahrain and GFH Financial Group which saw BD4.3m and BD2.8m values of their shares traded, respectively.

Zooming out, GCC equity markets reported weak trends last month to reach multi-month lows only to partially recover on the last trading day.

The aggregate MSCI GCC index witnessed the biggest monthly decline in 5-months at 5.2pc to close the month at 666.75 points.

The monthly decline pushed YTD-2023 performance in the red with a decline of 3.7pc.

The decline was mainly led by fears of the economic impact of multiple expected rate hikes in the US this year, especially after the release of recent economic data.

Weaker crude oil prices also affected markets in the GCC.

Brent crude futures dropped by 0.7pc during the month, the second consecutive month of decline this year, to close at $83.9 per barrel.

In addition, weaker earnings for some GCC stocks announced recently also affected sentiments in the market, although the broader earnings growth for 2022 vs 2021 remained healthy.

The performance of individual markets in the GCC remained mixed during the month.

On the sectoral front, most indices declined last month with banks showing the biggest monthly drop of 6.2pc, while the energy index dropped by 3.2pc.

Pharma and biotech was the second-worst performing index with a decline of 5.5pc while hotels, restaurants and leisure and transportation indices were the biggest gainers at 4.9pc and 4.1pc, respectively.

Source: https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/1195876