ISX opens week with slight 0.1% down

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) went down in the beginning of the week Sunday by 0.1% to close at 126.9 points as rates of shares of 16 out of a total 40 traded companies went down. “More than 764 million shares worth 1.2 billion Iraqi dinars (roughly $1 million) exchanged hands through 446 deals in today’s session,” according to an ISX news bulletin received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The previous session had closed at 127 points after an up of 0.5%. Rates of shares of 10 companies went into the green while 14 retained their previous levels. Non-Iraqi investors obtained 83 purchase deals worth 285 million dinars, mostly over the banking, industrial, service and hotel sectors, nearly 22% of the overall trading activities, and only two sale deals worth 1.5 million dinars over the banking sector. The banking sector took the lead with 72% of the trading through 272 deals worth 905 million dinars over 12 firms, followed by the industrial sector with 15% through 107 deals worth 196 million dinars over 11 firms and the hotel sector with 7% through 41 deals worth 91 million dinars over seven firms. Trading was modest over the service, agricultural, insurance and investment sectors. The ISX witnessed its first E-trading session on April 19, 2009 over five registered companies, three banks and two hotels. The banks were: Ashur International Bank (AIB), Al-Mansour Bank and the Iraqi Credit Bank while the hotels were: Ashtar Hotel and Al-Mansour Hotel. On June 7, 2009 the Iraqi Middle East Investment Bank and the Warka Bank joined the electronic trading sessions. The ISX now holds five sessions from Sunday to Thursday. AmR (TS) 323