The Bahrain Bourse All Share Index retreated by 1.1 per cent in November 2025, closing the month at 2,040.3 points, driven down by substantial declines across key heavyweight sectors.
According to Kamco Invest, sectoral performance for the month was predominantly negative, with five of the seven indices declining while only two advanced.
Substantial declines in heavyweight sectors drove the overall downward trend for November 2025. The Materials Index fell by 2.3pc, entirely due to the corresponding decline of its sole constituent, Alba.
The Financials Index also contributed significantly to the slump, declining by 0.9pc, underpinned by negative performances from key constituents like GFH Financial Group (down 5pc) and Bank ABC (down 2pc).
Furthermore, the Real Estate Index recorded the steepest retreat among all indices, falling 3.6pc to close at 2,371.4 points. This decline was attributed to the negative performance of both constituent companies in the sector, namely Seef Properties (down 5pc) and Bahrain Car Park Company (down 1.8pc).
On a positive note, the Consumer Staples Index advanced sharply, rising 7.9pc, a rise entirely attributable to a 13.6pc share-price appreciation in BMMI.
In terms of individual share price performance, Ithmaar Holding was the top monthly gainer, advancing an impressive 54.2pc in November 2025.
It was followed by BMMI, which recorded a 13.6pc increase, and Inovest, which registered a 5.2pc rise. Conversely, Seef Properties posted the steepest drop of 5pc. Other significant decliners included GFH Financial Group, which also fell 5pc, and Alba, which declined by 2.3pc.
GFH recently disclosed a strategic move by purchasing 5.15 million treasury shares, increasing its total holding from 211.95m shares (5.5pc of total issued shares) to 217.1m shares (5.7pc of total issued shares) as of November 16, 2025.
Trading activity on the Bahrain Bourse recorded a notable decline during November 2025. Overall traded volume fell by 6.2pc, reaching 139.3m shares compared with 148.6m shares in the preceding month. Likewise, the total value of traded shares on the exchange dropped by 9.3pc to
BD32.8m, versus BD36.1m in October 2025.
GFH Financial Group dominated trading activity, ranking first in monthly trading volumes with 93.8m shares exchanged. Ithmaar Holding and Al Salam Bank-Bahrain followed with 16.2m and 12m shares, respectively. On the value-traded side, GFH Financial Group also led with
BD54.8m, while Alba and Al Salam Bank followed with BD4.6m and BD2.7m, respectively.
In economic news, after completing its latest 2025 Article IV Mission to Bahrain, the IMF reiterated its strong projection for Bahrain’s economy to expand by 2.9pc in 2025 and 3.3pc in 2026. The fund cited the completion of refinery upgrades and robust growth in the financial and tourism services sectors as key drivers. In terms of medium-term economic growth, the IMF pencilled in 3pc growth driven by the non-oil sector, which is projected to represent around 90pc of the total economy by 2030. Moreover, the IMF expects the kingdom’s consumer prices to remain unchanged in 2025 before CPI inflation increases steadily to converge to 2pc over the medium term.
Zooming out, the GCC equity index recorded its sharpest monthly decline in more than three years in November 2025, halting two consecutive months of gains, as markets across the region succumbed to broad-based selling pressure.
The MSCI GCC index dropped 6.9pc for the month, marking its largest fall since September 2022. The decline mirrored pressure seen on global emerging market indices and coincided with a sustained drop in crude oil prices, which fell for the fourth straight month in November to reach $63.2 per barrel. Regionally, the slump occurred despite a sharp recovery in the US market late in the month, driven by hopes of a potential Federal Reserve rate cut in December 2025.
The weakness was widespread across the region. Out of the seven GCC exchanges, only the Muscat exchange managed to register a gain, rising 1.7pc. The rest of the GCC benchmarks closed lower, with Saudi Arabia seeing the steepest decline at 9.1pc. All sector indices in Saudi closed the month lower, pushing the TASI to its lowest level since mid-September 2025. Dubai and Abu Dhabi followed with monthly slides of 3.7pc and 3.5pc, respectively. The year-to-date performance for the MSCI GCC index is now flat, reflecting the deep decline in the Saudi market, which is down 12pc since the start of 2025.
The monthly sector performance across the GCC reflected the widespread negative sentiment, with all sectors closing in the red for November. The Consumer Durable and Apparel sector saw the steepest decline, falling 13.7pc. This was followed by double-digit retreats for the Healthcare, Hotels and Leisure, and Insurance Indices, all dropping over 10pc. Large-cap sectors were not spared, with the heavyweight Banks and Materials indices showing mid-single-digit declines, while the Energy index fell 4pc.
avinash@gdnmedia.bh
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