Baghdad ISX booms as global bourses go bust

BAGHDAD/IraqiNews.com: Iraqi stock exchange was booming this week, closing at 54.382 at 57.891 points, unlike the international bourses which went bust by the credit crunch. Traded shares in this week two sessions exceeded 1.1 billion at a total value of over 1.7 billion Iraqi dinars (nearly $ 1.4 million) The banking sector achieved the highest trading volume, while trading in an agriculture sector exceeded 32% due to rising demand on al-Tharthar company shares. Trading for Non-Iraqi investors exceeded 190 million dinars (nearly $161.000), registering a drop despite expectation they would seek Iraqi bourse unaffected by the global financial crisis. “The losses that hit investors in international bourses led to shrinkage of liquidity along with Iraq’s deteriorating security” an investor accounted for the drop of non-Iraqi investors. For another investor, using markers and whiteboards “caused delay in trading shares and impeded the communication between investors and traders”. Share prices on Iraq’s stock exchange plummeted during the years of sectarian warfare after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Investors say visiting the bourse was almost impossible when armed groups ruled the streets. But violence has fallen to four-year lows. Baghdad’s stock index jumped a year ago when the fall in violence was most pronounced, and has zoomed again in recent weeks as investors eye a reconstruction bonanza fuelled by huge oil revenues. AM(S) 1