Perseverance

Jordan is scheduled to sign another agreement promoting free trade, only this time with its northern neighbor Syria. The prime ministers from both countries are scheduled to sign an agreement on Sunday that will lead to bilateral free trade between both countries. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Trade and Industry expects this to boost bilateral trade to levels of around US$200 million. This comes almost two weeks after the free trade agreement with the US had finally completed its legal stages.

Stocks faced a rough time this week. At the start of the session, the market edged upwards with some investors taking advantage of the depressed prices. However, as political issues unfolded in the wake of last month's attacks on the US, prices came back under pressure, and further weakened amidst escalating Israeli aggression against the Palestinians. As most investors stayed on the sidelines, liquidity dried up and eventually fell below JD1 million on Wednesday for the first time in almost 11 weeks, while the value traded for the week totaled some JD12.6 million. All in all, the market managed to make slight gains and ended the week up only 1%, as advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by more than three to two.

Jordan Duty Free Shops (JDFS) saw around 640,000 of its shares change hands as the Social Security Corporation, the kingdom's largest institutional investor, further increased its position by acquiring around JD4 million worth of shares and pushed up the week's high volumes. Industrial Commercial and Agriculture (ICAG), last week's biggest decliner, hit the maximum permissible limit two days this week and recovered by some 11% as investors rushed in to capitalize on 'bargain prices'.

According to a report in a leading paper, the government is currently assessing opportunities for allowing the country's capital market to take on a more active role in implementing its privatization program. Some experts believe that the government should consider privatizing would-be candidates through public offerings, while others have questioned the wisdom of such a move especially as the region's liquidity dries up.