.jpg?20260401')
MANAMA: The Bahrain Bourse (BHB) continued its declining trend into May 2020, and receded by 3.1 per cent month-on-month (MoM).
The all share index closed at 1269.63 points as sectoral indices were negative, according to a report by Kuwait-based Kamco Invest.
Commercial banks were down by 4pc MoM, followed by declines from investment names (-2.6pc) and industrial companies (-2.1pc).
In year to date (YTD) terms, barring the insurance sector, all other sectors remain in the red as of end May-2020.
In Q1-20 earnings, Alba reported a net profit of BD5.7 million, up by 136pc year-on-year (YoY) from a loss of BD15.8m for the same period in 2019.
As for revenue from contracts with customers, Alba generated BD275.9m in Q1-20, up 36pc YoY versus BD203.5m in Q1-19.
The smelter’s top-line and bottom-line growth were driven by higher metal sales’ volume from Line 6 but impacted by lower LME prices which were down by 9pc YoY from $1,690 per metric tonne (MT) in Q1-20 versus $1,859 per MT in Q1-19.
Alba’s sales’ volume came in at 379,274 MT up by 48pc YoY, while production was up 43pc YoY at 388,637 MT.
Trading activity on BHB, however, was mixed, as volumes decreased by 59.1pc MoM to 59.9m shares.
Value traded improved by 15.2pc MoM to BD24.5m.
The number of trades made in the exchange also decreased to 680 trades, down 26.6pc MoM from March 2020. National Bank of Bahrain was the most actively traded stock in May 2020 with BD12.67m worth of its shares traded on the exchange.
AUB and GFH followed with BD7.07m and BD1.8m worth of shares traded.
In terms of volumes traded, National Bank of Bahrain was the most active stock as 21.04m shares were traded, followed by GFH and AUB with 12.5m and 12.1m shares respectively.
There were no gainers on the exchange for the month of May. Bahrain Duty Free Complex was the main laggard, as it witnessed a MoM decline of 17.7pc, followed by GFH and Khaleeji Commercial Bank with monthly declines of 10.6pc and 7.3pc respectively.
Looking at the wider GCC region, Kamco Invest noted that a number of GCC economies have announced plans to gradually open their economies in the coming months post the ongoing lockdowns and support economic growth.
The plans and the subsequent announcements boosted investor sentiment in the GCC, and drove the market to rally during the second half of May 2020 in most of the GCC benchmarks.
On the other hand, confirmed Covid-19 cases accelerated in the region during the month to close slightly above the 200,000 mark.
avinash@gdn.com.bh
&uuid=(email))