ASE at its highest for more than 2 years

AMMAN — The price index of shares registered at the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) reached its highest levels in two and a half years, on Wednesday, closing at 2,023.81; a rise of 2.75 percent.اضافة اعلان

The rise is attributed to a wave of demand for blue-chip shares, as well as other shares in other sectors, amid a focus on banking shares, led by that of Arab Bank, which closed at its highest permitted trading levels for the third day in a row, at JD4.92 per share.

The Morgan Stanley index is expected to redistribute weights today between frontier markets, following the upgrade of the Kuwaiti market to an emerging market. This might result in the rise of the weight of some shares, headed by the Arab Bank’s.

During Wednesday’s session, the ASE index achieved gains amounting to more than 500 points above the index’s lowest level last year, as local investors are mainly focused on blue-chip shares that have good returns, especially since they are being traded at low prices — below their book price.

In recent years, local investors have not been giving much thought to security investments, but consecutive drops in interest rates carried out by the Central Bank of Jordan have paid off, as deposit interests, which reached 5.5 percent before, today range between 3 and 3.5 percent. This led to local investors reconsidering the financial return of stock investment, particularly since prices have not seen consecutive rises over many years, and are currently at low levels.

This trend was evident in the demand for blue-chip shares, with the trading value for Wednesday reaching JD16.8 million, with 10.7 million shares traded through 6,611 transactions.

Under the current conditions, including high turnout for vaccinations and the government announcing a gradual reopening of the remaining sectors soon, local investors have been feeling a sense of relief over improving economic indicators and better growth rates.

The shares of 111 companies were traded on Wednesday, with the shares prices of 61 companies rising, and the shares prices of 23 companies declining.

At the sector level, the financial index increased by 2.83 percent, the services index increased by 2.78 percent, and the industrial index increased by 1.14 percent. 

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