MANAMA: Shares on the Bahrain Bourse bounced back last month registering an increase of 3.6 per cent to close at 1,905.52 points snapping a three-month losing streak.
The upswing during July 2022 supported year-to-date (YTD) 2022 gains for the benchmark Bahrain All Share Index to 6pc, according to a report by Kuwait-based Kamco Invest.
However, for the third consecutive month the materials sector reported the biggest monthly decline registering a fall of 7.3pc followed by communications services index and real estate index with downturns of 3.2pc and 2.2pc, respectively.
The financial index recorded the only monthly gain among the sectors with a gain of 6.9pc.
In terms of YTD-2022 performance, the materials index topped with a gain of 33.9pc while the communication services index showed the biggest decline of 18pc.
The monthly stock performance chart was topped by Ahli United Bank with a 15.6pc monthly return followed by GFH Financial Group and Al-Salam Bank Bahrain with gains of 6.2pc and 2.4pc, respectively.
Meanwhile, the monthly decliners list was led by Solidarity Bahrain (down 8.2pc) followed by Alba (down 7.3pc) and Bahrain Cinema (down 6.8pc).
Trading activity on the exchange declined last month with volumes receding 26.6pc to 35.3 million shares as compared to 48.1m during June 2022.
Total value traded on the exchange, on the other hand, increased by 31.2pc to BD15.3m in July 2022 as compared to BD11.7m during the previous month.
GFH Financial Group topped the monthly volumes chart with 10.3m traded shares followed by Al Salam Bank Bahrain and Alba which saw 9.2m and 7.2m of shares changing hands during July, respectively.
On the monthly value traded chart, Ahli United Bank topped this list with BD6.3m worth of shares changing hands during the month, followed by GFH Financial Group and Alba which saw BD3m and BD1.8m values of their shares traded, respectively.
Kamco’s analysis for the GCC as a whole shows the aggregate index recovered after two consecutive months of decline amid volatile trade during July 2022.
The MSCI GCC index reported the biggest gain in six months at 6.1pc last month, broadly in line with global equity markets.
Performance within the GCC was also positive across the board with Oman seeing the biggest monthly gain of 9.9pc.
Profits during July 2022 strengthened the YTD 2022 performance of the GCC markets.
The MSCI GCC index closed the month with a gain of 7.4pc since the start of the year.
The sector performance chart for the month showed gains across the board with all the sectors in the green.
The healthcare sector was leading with a surge of 10.6pc followed by the pharma and biotech index, which saw an advance of 9.3pc. The real estate index was next with a gain of 8.3pc.
The insurance and F&B indices showed the smallest uptick of 0.4pc while large-cap sectors like banks and energy were 7.3pc and 3.4pc, respectively.
However, in terms of YTD 2022 returns, the performance was almost equally split between gainers and decliners.
The healthcare index topped with an increase of 25.1pc followed by energy and utilities with jumps of 19.8pc and 18.1pc, respectively.
Banks followed also with a double-digit growth of 13pc.
On the other hand, the consumer durables and apparel index showed the biggest slump of 27.5pc followed by pharma and biotech and insurance indices with declines of 26.4pc and 12pc, respectively.
avinash@gdnmedia.bh
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