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The winds of fear from abroad continue to overshadow the good news at home

2008-10-26

Palestine securities exchange index continued declining last week by 16.34 points (%2.90), to increase its loses in 5 weeks to 127 points or %18.8 affected by the continuing panic status in the global and regional financial markets despite the good news about the companies" performance and the flow of abroad donations on a higher rate than was expected. In a new push for the Palestinian economy where government payments are considered its essential engine in this phase, the US had provided an additional donation to the PNA"s treasury that reached $150 million to make their donations exceed $300 million for this year, and it is expected to exceed $700 million within adding the financed projects by the US. Also Italy provided a donation of Euro 20 million, and the EU announced also new financing for infrastructure projects in roads and electricity sectors. These developments assure the Prime Minister Dr.Salam Fayyad"s expectations that the outside donations will not be effected by the global financial crisis. Regarding the companies" performance, out of 17 listed companies who disclosed their third quarter financials, 16 companies declared profits versus one company that had announced loss. And among the gaining companies, the financial statements of 12 companies indicated a growth in their income for the first nine months of the year, and some companies" net income exceeded the whole income for the last year, where the 4 remaining companies showed a decline in their income in the third quarter comparing with the same period of last year. These results justify the analysts wonder from the unjustified fear status in the PSE. Last week Al-Quds index closed at the level of 546.75 points declining by %2.90 comparing with last week, affected by the decline of all the sectors" indices in the market with remarkable percentages that varied between %1.14 for banking sector and %4.59 for investment sector.