Bahrain Bourse posts 1.8pc monthly gain

MANAMA: The Bahrain Bourse (BHB) was back in the green during last month after reporting marginal declines during March 2021.

Analysis by Kamco Invest shows the Bahrain All Share Index closed April 2021 at 1,484.85 points, registering a gain of 1.8 per cent, the biggest monthly gain in five months.

Trading trend for the month showed declines at the start of the month but were more than offset by consistent gains during the rest of the month, as per a report by the Kuwait-based investment firm.

The monthly gain supported year-to-date (YTD) performance; however, the benchmark continued to remain in the red and was the only market to record YTD-2021 decline, albeit marginal, of (-)0.3pc.

The gain during April reflected mixed performance on the sectoral front.

The industrial index topped during the month with a return of 13.1pc followed by services and commercial bank indices with gains of 2.7pc and 0.8pc, respectively.

Gains in the industrial index was solely led by 13.4pc gain in shares of Alba which saw consistent gains since the start of the month, although there were no specific catalysts for the advance apart from the smelter benefiting from the economic revival in the post-pandemic era.

Similarly, gains in the services index were led by a 4.7pc jump in shares of Batelco and a 3.3pc rise in shares of Seef Properties.

Shares of Batelco gained after the telco reported 6pc year-on-year (YoY) increase in net profits during Q1-2021.

The improvement came on the back of a 2pc growth in revenues to BD99.7 million in Q1-2021 led by increase in fixed broadband, adjacent services and wholesale revenues by 19pc, 17pc and 8pc, respectively.

In the commercial banking sector, the performance was broadly positive, albeit marginal.

AUB was the best performing stock in the sector with a gain of 1.12pc whereas gains for NBB and BBK stood at 0.7pc and 0.2pc, respectively.

On the decliners side, the hotels and tourism index reported the biggest decline during the month at 3.2pc followed by Insurance and investment indices with declines of 1.8pc and 0.2pc, respectively.

Trading activity on BHB declined for the first time in four months recording a steep month-on-month (MoM) slump during April 2021.

Monthly value traded dropped by almost two-thirds to BD8.8m, the lowest monthly level since October-2016, as compared to BD23.8m during March-2021.

Volume of trades during the month was also the lowest since October-2016 at 39.2m shares in April 2021 as compared to 81.4m shares during March 2021.

AUB topped the monthly value traded chart with BD3.54m worth of shares changing hands during the month followed by GFH Financial Group and Alba at 2.37m shares and 2.35m shares, respectively.

On the monthly volume traded chart, GFH Financial Group topped with 13.9m traded shares during the month followed by AUB and Alba at 5.1m shares and 4.3m shares, respectively.

The monthly top performance chart was topped by Alba with a gain of 13.4pc followed by Inovest and Khaleeji Commercial Bank with monthly gains of 7.1pc for the two stocks.

Batelco and Seef Properties also featured in the top 5 performers with gains of 4.7pc and 3.3pc, respectively.

On the monthly decliners chart, Al Baraka Banking Group topped with its shares falling 9.6pc during the month followed by Zain Bahrain and Nass with decreases of 6.8pc and 6.1pc, respectively.

The wider GCC region saw equity markets posting gains across the board in April, in line with the optimism seen in global equity markets.

Boursa Kuwait topped the monthly performance chart in the region with a gain of 5.8pc for its all share index.

The MSCI GCC Index gained 4.5pc during the month to close at a 6.5 year high that pushed YTD-2021 gains to 17.8pc.

Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabian markets remained top YTD-2021 performers in the region with gains of almost 20pc followed by Kuwait, also with a double digit gain of 10.2pc.

The sector performance chart also showed a broad-based rally during the month with only the insurance and consumer durables and apparel sectors showing declines of 2.1pc and 3pc, respectively.

The healthcare sector topped in April with a gain of 14.2pc, followed by transportation and capital goods indices with gains of 12.3pc and 9.8pc, respectively.

Large-cap sectors like materials and banks also showed gains of 8pc and 4.4pc during the month, respectively.

The GCC materials sector topped the YTD-2021 performance chart with a gain of 25.1pc followed by healthcare and capital goods benchmarks with gains of 24.7pc and 24pc, respectively.

The banking sector index has logged gains of more than 20pc since the start of the year.

Source: https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/943949/Bahrain-Bourse-posts-18pc-monthly-gain