Bahrain All Share Index closed yesterday at 1,880.05 points, marking a decrease of 9.58 points below the previous closing.
This decrease was due to the drop in the communications services sector, the financial sector and the real estate sector.
Bahrain Islamic Index closed at 902.65 points, marking a decrease of 2.13 points below the previous closing.
Results indicated that 84 equity transactions took place with a volume of 828,612 worth BD 271,888.
Investors traded mainly in the financial sector, representing 59.54 per cent of the total value of securities traded.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, most equities were subdued yesterday as investors weighed escalating regional tensions following Iranian strikes on petrochemical facilities in the GCC.
Geopolitical risks remained elevated after Washington announced the rescue of a second airman shot down over Iran, with US President Donald Trump hardening his rhetoric.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said yesterday they had attacked petrochemical plants in the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain, warning that strikes on US economic interests would intensify if civilian targets in Iran were hit again.
In Qatar, the index dropped 0.7pc, with the country’s biggest lender Qatar National Bank losing 0.6pc, while Doha Bank plunged 6.9pc as the lender traded ex-dividend.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index, which has outperformed its regional peers as the kingdom worked around the Strait of Hormuz disruption, closed flat after choppy trading.
The kingdom’s non-oil private sector shrank in March for the first time since August 2020 as conflict in the Middle East disrupted supply chains.
Brent climbed nearly 8pc on Thursday, the last trading day before the Easter holiday weekend, on fears of prolonged oil supply disruptions after Trump said the US would continue attacks on Iran.
Meanwhile, Opec+ has provisionally agreed to raise its May oil output quotas by 206,000 barrels per day, according to three sources familiar with the talks, though the increase is likely to be mostly symbolic as key members remain unable to lift production amid the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Boursa Kuwait lost 0.4pc.
Iranian drone attacks on Kuwait caused fires and “severe material damage” at some operating units, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index advanced 1.9pc.
Egypt kept its key interest rates unchanged on Thursday, pausing the easing cycle that began a year ago amid rising inflation risks driven by regional instability linked to the US-Israeli war on Iran and higher energy costs.
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