Fuelled by expectations of the imminent opening of the hitherto closed doors of the ISX to non Iraqi investors, the market continued its upward surge for the eleventh trade session this month

ISX, Which way the market is going, September 06 2007

The Price Index of the Iraq stock exchange went down today by 1.4% according to the official market brief published by the exchange. We argue that the official price index published by the exchange cannot be but flawed as our simple calculation indicate that the market actually went up as indicated by a 1.23% rise in total market capitalization, from ID 1,971 million to ID 1,995.

Today’s market was totally dominated by banking with the value of transactions equal ID 736 million making up 92% of an overall trade value of ID 800 million. With the exception of Babil bank, the close prices of all banking stocks were actually up. The rise ranged from 2% to 11%. This alone should have led to a rise in any Price Index that is supposed to correctly reflect market movements.

	current session	previous session	%change
Market Volume Traded (shares million)	510.97	677.73	-24.61
Market Value Traded (ID m)	800.48	862.96	-7.24
Market Capitalization (ID billon)	1995.23	1971.04	1.23
Number of Transaction	253	251	0.80

Market Value Traded ($m)	0.6353	0.68489	-7.24
Market Capitalization ($billon)	1.584	1.56	1.23

Indeed despite the fall in volume, shares and dollar worth, today was a good day in the ISX, as any broker would casually tell you. This is easily verified given that 20 out of the 34 traded stocks today were up, only six went down and the rest were intact. Some of those that went down did so in only marginal insignificant trade.

For example Babil Hotel, a company with 1922 million outstanding shares, was down by a lofty 11% by one single contract involving 50,000 shares only. Likewise the Tourist Investment Company, with an outstanding number of shares of 1900 million, was down by 3% by one single contract involving only 250,000 shares. Such transactions cannot and should not be used as basis for the calculation of a price index without proper weighing.

Market Breadth
Advancers	20
Decliners	6
Unchanged	8
Total Traded	34
Total not Traded	60
Total	94

DISCLAIMER: This document has been compiled and issued by Kubba Consultants, which has obtained the information from sources it believes to be reliable, but Kubba Consultants makes no guarantee as to either its accuracy or completeness and has not carried out an independent verification. Kubba Consultants accepts no responsibility or liability for losses or damages incurred as a result of opinions formed and decisions made based on information presented in this report. This document is not an offer to sell or solicitation to buy any securities. The opinions and estimates expressed herein are those of the issuer.