Bahrain Bourse tops GCC equity markets

 The Bahrain Bourse All Share Index recorded the best monthly performance in the GCC during February registering a gain of 8.5 per cent to close at 1,963.62 points.

In terms of sectoral performance, the materials index which only has one constituent company (Alba) dominated the rest of the sectoral indices recording a 42.9pc rise last month to close at 5,742.7 points.

Alba disclosed BD451.9 million ($1.2 billion) in net profit for 2021 as compared with a profit of BD9.7m in 2020.

The smelter’s growth in profit was mainly attributed to the robust rebound in global aluminum demand and strong market recovery and economic activity in key markets.

The financials and real estate indices also reported gains of 5pc and 3pc, respectively, whereas the industrials index topped on the decliners’ side with a slide of 3.4pc during February-2022.

The monthly gainers chart was topped by Alba which saw its share price grow 42.9pc followed by Khaleeji Commercial Bank and Ahli United Bank with gains of 30.2pc and 11.5pc, respectively.

On the decliners table, Ithmaar Holding Company topped the table witnessing a 21.6pc share fall followed by Inovest and Arab Banking Corp which recorded declines of 11.5pc and 8.5pc respectively.

Trading activity on the exchange was strong during February 2022 with a growth in value traded and in volumes, indicating higher trades in large cap stocks.

Total volume of shares traded rose by 31.8pc to 52.3m shares last month as compared to 39.7m shares during January 2022.

On the other hand, value of shares traded during the month rose by 35.1pc to BD16.9m as compared to BD12.5m during the previous month.

Al Salam Bank Bahrain topped the monthly volume traded chart with 13.4m traded shares followed by AUB and Alba at 8.2m shares and 6.6m shares, respectively.

Similarly, on the value traded chart, Ahli United Bank lead the way for the second month running with BD8m worth of shares traded during the month followed by Alba and Batelco at BD7.1m and BD1.4m, respectively

The geopolitical situation concerning Russia and Ukraine and the events that transpired last month affected markets across the globe resulting in a steep decline in valuations.

However, GCC equity markets remained largely insulated from the global sell-off and increased volatility.

The MSCI GCC index declined marginally by 0.8pc last week but advances during the previous weeks led to a monthly gain of 4.2pc during February 2022.

All the regional markets were in the green during the month, barring Oman which declined for the second consecutive month by 1.5pc.

The sector performance chart for the GCC markets showed the energy sector leading with a gain of 8.3pc followed by hotels, restaurant and leisure and capital goods indices with gains of 5.4pc and 4.9pc, respectively.

Banks were next with a gain of 4.4pc.

On the losers side, the consumer goods and apparels index led the slide, dipping 12pc followed by pharma and F&B indices with declines of 4.6pc and 1.6pc, respectively.

Source: https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/1035017/Bahrain-Bourse-tops-GCC-equity-markets