Amid liquidity circulation that is related to switching investment positions by traders in the period prior to holding the general assembly meetings of the companies, Al-Quds Index declined during the week, influenced by the decrease in its most weighted shares. This comes in parallel with an increase in the frequency of dividends proposals for the year 2013 and announcements of their trends concerning fundamental issues related to companies’ capital. In effect, the market performance of each company individually varies according to the disclosed financial indicators.  As for the behavior of traders, the varied expected financial return for the selected investment period dominated, leading to price volatility in the financial market. In Palestine, the scene is always full of preparedness and anticipation- with varying degrees and times of domination- on the economic elements in general and Palestine Stock Exchange in particular until a clear vision appears regarding the sustainable growth which in turn will remain under consideration and hope together if any political progress happens.

During this week’s trading, the share of Palestine Telecommunications PALTEL- the largest company by market capitalization and the heaviest weighted shares in Al-Quds Index- constituted around 62% of the PEX’s total trading value due to executing institutional transactions in the first trading sessions of the week. On the other hand, the decline in PALTEL’s share by 1.54% was the main reason for the drop in Al-Quds Index after closing at the level of JD6.40 within a wide price range. This decrease comes prior to holding the GA meeting on 26/03/2014 that will discuss the board of directors BOD’s proposal to distribute 50% cash dividends for the year 2013. This period witnesses a speculative tendency by a category of traders according to the historical performance of the share before and after the dividends distribution proposal. It is worth mentioning that PALTEL recorded gains during 2014 that reached 16.7% but was reduced during the week to 10.3%. Moreover, the leading share of Palestine Development and Investment Company PADICO- the largest investment company by market capitalization that also has the largest average trading value since the beginning of the year – declined by 0.55% when closing at the level of $1.80 through relatively medium transactions worth $2.30 million. As an effect of this decline, the share of PADICO records gains of 33.3% during 2014 after recording, at a point, during the period, an increase of 38.5%.

During the week, the share of The Arab Palestinian Investment Company APIC was active when recorded gains of 3.20%, to close at the level of $1.29 through significant transactions worth $2.19 million. APIC witnessed significant performance and relatively stable price range since its inclusion at the beginning of March 2014. Moreover, executing an institutional transaction on the share of Al-Quds Bank QUDS raised the bank’s trading value to $1.13 million, to close at the level of $1.01; up by 2.02%. Regarding the listed companies dividends distribution proposals, the BOD of Palestine Electric Company PEC proposed to the GA that will be holding a meeting on 29/04/2014, distributing 5% cash dividends, to record payout ratio of 65.8%. In addition, PEC will be distributing 10% stock dividends for the year 2013. On the other hand, the BOD of Al-Shark Electrode Company ELECTRODE modified the cash dividends distribution proposal from 13% to 11.5%, to record payout ratio of 89.6%.