BAHRAIN’S key stock market indices closed lower this week despite a significant increase in both trading volume and number of transactions, according to the weekly report issued yesterday.
The Bahrain All Share Index saw a drop of 44.67 points, or 2.16 per cent, closing the week at 2,021.53, while the Bahrain Islamic Index also declined by 18.63 points, or 1.84pc, to close at 991.99.
Trading activity for the week was robust, with investors executing 595 total transactions. The total volume of shares traded in the Bahrain Bourse reached 35,469,472 shares with a total value of BD5,800,155.
During the five working days, the average daily trading value reached BD1,160,031, the average daily volume stood at 7,093,894 shares, and the average number of transactions reached 119.
Investors traded shares of 26 companies during the week; of these, five companies saw their prices rise, while 14 companies recorded a decline in share prices, and the remaining companies maintained their previous closing prices.
The financial sector maintained its dominant position in terms of value, contributing a staggering 83.16pc to the total traded value. The sector’s total traded value amounted to BD4,823,521. The basic materials sector took the second spot, accounting for 6.91pc of the total value with BD400,892 traded.
However, the sectoral indices showed a mostly downward trend ; the basic materials sector index experienced the largest decline, dropping by 5.36pc, followed by the real estate index which fell by 3.79pc, and the financial sector index which declined by 1.52pc.
At the company level, GFH Financial Group and Al Salam Bank led the market in terms of value traded. GFH Financial Group claimed the top spot with a trading value of BD3,611,762, representing 62.27pc of the total traded value, and a volume of 16,480,697 shares executed through 132 transactions.
Al Salam Bank was second, recording a value of BD789,313, or 13.61pc of the total value, with a volume of 3,588,711 shares executed through 83 transactions.
Meanwhile, Wall Street stocks followed European shares’ lead by moving sharply higher yesterday, and benchmark Treasuries dipped as investors digested a delayed employment report and quarterly results from Nvidia, which allayed fears of an artificial intelligence bubble.
All three major US stock indexes advanced, with solid gains in the Magnificent Seven group of AI-adjacent momentum stocks putting the tech-heavy Nasdaq out front. Benchmark Treasury yields dipped along with gold, providing further signs of market participants’ reawakened risk appetite. Chipmaker and AI darling Nvidia posted its hotly anticipated results after Wednesday’s closing bell, delivering consensus-beating earnings and stronger-than-expected forward guidance, which soothed jitters over inflated valuations in the sector.
“Nvidia’s report is exactly what the market needed,” said Jake Dollarhide, CEO at Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “The worries and wrangling over the concerns over an AI bubble have been greatly exaggerated. Nvidia’s earnings yesterday show the AI boom and trade could easily bleed into a Santa Claus rally as we potentially blast off into year-end.”
Employment data, unavailable throughout the longest-ever US federal government shutdown, reported more jobs than expected, but a surprising uptick in the unemployment rate suggested a softening in labour market conditions.
But the September jobs report is stale, and as a result of the decision to combine the October and November reports, the US Federal Reserve will have just one month of dated employment numbers to inform its rate decision at next month’s policy meeting.
Financial markets are pricing in a 43.8 per cent likelihood that the central bank will implement its third interest rate cut of the year at the meeting, down from about 50pc at the same time last week and near certainty a month ago, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
But not everyone agrees.
“The Fed is going to have to go on its own guts, and from a contrarian viewpoint, I believe that they will cut by 25 basis points,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
“The rhetoric that we’re hearing from a lot of Fed members is just playing it safe,” Cardillo added. “But I think the dovish members are probably going to win, and they are going to be right.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 655.31 points, or 1.41pc, to 46,789.96, the S&P 500 rose 118.35 points, or 1.77pc, to 6,759.85 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 524.22 points, or 2.32pc, to 23,088.45.
European shares rode the Nvidia wave, benefiting from a global relief rally.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 14.33 points, or 1.47pc, to 991.54.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.11pc, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 25.05 points, or 1.12pc.
Emerging market stocks rose 12.93 points, or 0.95pc, to 1,373.24. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed higher by 1.07pc, to 705.40, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 1,286.24 points, or 2.65pc, to 49,823.94. US Treasury yields dropped after the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly edged up to 4.4pc, raising the probability of further easing from the Fed before year-end.
The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell 1.7 basis points to 4.114pc, from 4.131pc late on Wednesday.
The 30-year bond yield fell 1.4 basis points to 4.7378pc from 4.752pc late on Wednesday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Fed, fell 2.8 basis points to 3.571pc, from 3.598pc late on Wednesday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.12pc to 100.21, with the euro down 0.08pc at $1.1526.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.43pc to 157.82.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin gained 0.07pc to $90,602.37. Ethereum declined 0.17pc to $2,983.86.
Oil prices got a boost from a bigger-than-expected draw on US crude stockpiles amid the tailwind of the broader equities rally.
US crude rose 1.09pc to $60.09 a barrel and Brent rose to $64.27 per barrel, up 1.2pc.
Gold prices inched higher as investors assessed the delayed jobs report. Spot gold rose 0.2pc to $4,088.99 an ounce. US gold futures rose 0.31pc to $4,090.40 an ounce.
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