BHB ends flat in November

Lacklustre trade kept the Bahrain All Share index flat last month while the performance of equity markets was mixed in the wider GCC region.

Analysis by Kuwait-based Kamco shows the Bahrain Bourse (BHB) benchmark closed November 2022 at 1,864.91 points as compared to 1,864.65 points in October 2022.

The materials index recorded the largest monthly growth of 1.1 per cent to close at 4,658.5 points followed by the industrial index which was up 0.8pc even as three of the seven sectoral indices on the exchange saw declines.

In terms of year-to-date (YTD-2022) performance, the materials index maintained its lead with 26.7pc gain while the consumer discretionary index was a distant second posting returns of 7.8pc.

As for companies, Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain topped the table with its share price rising 6.6pc during November 2022 followed by GFH Financial Group which saw share price increase of 5.6pc.

Among decliners, Bahrain Commercial Facilities led with a 13pc fall in share price followed by BMMI that saw a 5.4pc drop in share price during November 2022.

Trading activity on the exchange was mixed with volumes plunging 37.1pc to 29.7 million shares from 47.2m shares during October 2022.

Total value traded on the exchange, on the other hand, increased by 15.4pc to BD15.3m in November 2022 as compared to BD13.3m during October 2022.

GFH Financial Group topped the monthly volumes chart with 5.4m traded shares followed by Al Salam Bank Bahrain and Alba which saw 3.9m and 3.1m of their shares change hands during the month, respectively.

On the monthly value traded chart, newly listed Kuwait Finance House led with BD6.1m worth of shares changing hands followed by Alba and GFH Financial Group which saw BD3.1m and BD1.4m in values of their shares traded, respectively.

For the Q3-2022 earnings season, total net profits for Bahrain-listed companies decreased by 44pc year-on-year to $405.5m after six of its 13 sectors led by the two largest sectors by market cap posted a drop in net profits during the quarter.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian stocks recorded the biggest decline in the GCC during the month with a broad-based pullback in the TASI benchmark that fell by 6.6pc to close below the 11,000 mark.

Qatar and Dubai benchmarks also declined by low-single-digits during November-2022 that more than offset gains reported by the rest of the exchanges resulting in a 4.2pc decline for the MSCI GCC Index during the month.

The declines in Saudi Arabia and Qatar also affected the YTD-2022 performance of the GCC markets with the index closing the month in the red for the fourth time this year.

Almost all the sectoral indices closed in the red during the month, with only capital goods; hotels, restaurants and leisure and real estate indices posting marginal positive performance during the month while the rest of the benchmarks receded.

The pharma and biotech index was the worst performing index during November 2022 registering a decline of 10.6pc followed by consumer durables and apparel and materials index with declines of 10.4pc and 9.6pc, respectively.

The utilities index also witnessed a decline of 9.6pc during the month while large-cap sectors like banks and energy recorded declines of 3.2pc and 4.3pc, respectively.

Source: https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/1149765