Bahrain Bourse ends in red amid fragile investor mood

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The Bahrain Bourse ended March in the red reflecting the regional declining trend suggesting investor confidence remains fragile.

Analysis by Kuwait-based Kamco Invest shows that the benchmark All Share Index closed last month at 1,886.61 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 plunge of 17.7 per cent during March 2023 mainly contributing to the fall in the overall index.

The drop reflected a fall in profits for Alba that receded 8.6pc in FY-2022.

The real estate index followed as the second biggest loser among the indices with a slide of 3.3pc decline during March 2023 to close the month at 2,752.3 points mainly due to Seef Properties which recorded a 2.5pc share price fall during the month.

Among the gainers, only two of the seven sectoral indices in the Bahrain Bourse recorded an uptick last month led by the industrial index which saw a 1.7pc increase to close the month at 2,970.3 followed by the communications services index which registered a marginal 0.2pc rise.

The monthly stock performance chart, according to Bloomberg data, was topped by Nass Corp with a 12pc monthly return followed by Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company and GFH Financial Group with gains of 6.3pc and 6.1pc, respectively.

Recently, GFH Financial Group announced the sale of 2.52pc or 96.7 million of issued shares held in treasury to Dubai Investments.

Meanwhile, the monthly decliners list was led by Alba reporting a 15.6pc share price drop, followed by Solidarity Bahrain and Zain Bahrain, down 9.6pc and 6.9pc, respectively.

Trading activity on the exchange increased for the second consecutive month during March-2023 with volumes growing by more than three-times to 152.7m shares as compared to 52.8m shares during March 2023.

Furthermore, total value traded on the exchange grew 7.9pc to BD27.7m in March 2023 as compared to BD25.6m during February 2023.

GFH Financial Group topped the monthly volumes chart with 105.5m traded shares followed by Al Salam Bank Bahrain and Nass Corp which saw 15.8m and 11.8m of their shares changing hands during the month, respectively.

On the monthly value traded chart, GFH Financial Group topped the list with BD27.2m worth of shares changing hands during the month, followed by Alba and Kuwait Finance House – Bahrain which witnessed BD9.3m and BD3m values of their shares traded, respectively.

In economic news, Bahrain’s economy expanded by 4.9pc in 2022 its fastest rate since 2013 mainly driven by an acceleration in non-oil growth according to government data.

The kingdom’s overall economic growth was fueled by the higher than expected 6.2pc growth in the non-oil sector of the economy.

Bahrain’s deficit to GDP ratio dropped to -1.1pc in 2022 while its debt to GDP fell to 100pc and primary surplus reached 3.3pc during the same period.

The government indicated that it would continue its plans, programmes, and priorities which it set to support economic growth and development.

In market news, Bahrain-based Investcorp Holdings, the Middle East’s biggest alternative asset manager, is said to be considering listing an investment vehicle in the ADX, according to reports.

This type of IPO would be the first in the Middle East region.