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The Iraq Stock Exchange trades one billion shares in a week EconomyIraq Stock ExchangeStock Trading 2023-06-01 // 05:05 Shafaq News / During the last week of May, the Iraqi Stock Exchange organized five trading sessions, from Sunday, May 28 to Thursday. A market statement received by Shafaq News agency stated; The number of shares traded during this week amounted to more than (1) billion shares, while the value of shares traded this week amounted to more than (2) billion dinars. According to the statement; The trading index in the market for the first session of the week closed at (633.58) points, while the index closed at the end of the week at (632.58) points, achieving a decrease of (0.16%) from its closing at the beginning of the session. He pointed out that during the week, more than (2400) buying and selling contracts were executed on the shares of the companies listed in the market. https://shafaq.com/ar/اقتصـاد/بورصة-العراق-تتداول-مليار-سهم-في-اسبوع
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The Iraqi Stock Exchange will be suspended tomorrow, Monday EconomyIraqi Stock ExchangeLabor DaySuspension Of Work 2023-04-30 // 04:35 Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Stock Exchange announced, on Sunday, that it will stop its activities for tomorrow, as it is an official holiday. The market said, in a statement received by Shafaq News agency, that, based on the Cabinet's decision to declare an official holiday for one day on the occasion of International Labor Day, it will not organize trading sessions for tomorrow, Monday, May 1, 2023. And between, "It will be the first trading session after the holiday, starting on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, according to its official timing." It is noteworthy that the Iraq Stock Exchange organizes five trading sessions per week, from Sunday to Thursday, and includes 103 Iraqi joint-stock companies representing the sectors of banking, communications, industry, agriculture, insurance, financial investment, tourism, hotels and services. https://shafaq.com/ar/اقتصـاد/البورصة-العراقية-تعطل-نشاطها-غدا-ال-ثنين
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Launching the first online financial trading platform Seror sattar2022-12-19 https://www.awla.news/إطلاق-أول-منصة-إلكترونية-للتداول-الما/ Today, Monday, the Iraq Stock Exchange announced the launch of the Internet trading system for the shares of Iraqi joint-stock companies - for investors. The market said, in a statement received by (Al-Oula News), that “based on the regulatory regulation” trading in securities via the Internet – for investors, “and based on the approvals issued by the Securities Commission and the Board of Governors in the Iraqi Stock Exchange, and on the occasion of the completion of the implementation plan for the project of the trading system in companies’ shares.” The Iraqi shareholding listed via the Internet - for investors by the Carmel Brokerage Company with the Iraqi Stock Exchange and the success of the testing plan that the company carried out on electronic systems and cyber examination by an entity independent of the market and the company. He added, "The online trading system for the shares of Iraqi joint-stock companies will be launched - for Go Life investors, starting from the session on Sunday 1/29/2023," stressing that "this step is one of the required development requirements in enabling shareholders and investors to buy and sell themselves using their stations." Or their smartphones through a trading application that meets the instructions and rules of electronic trading and central depository.
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Iraqi Shares Out-Perform World Markets 5th January 2023 in Investment - By John Lee. The Iraqi stock market, as measured by Rabee Securities ISX Index, has out-performed the main international markets over the past year, closing at IQD910.3 / $774.8 (-0.8%/-3.8% YTD change). (Please note: USD RSISX Index was updated for year-end closing with FX rate of 1525 (Dec. 29)). This fall of 3.8 percent in dollar terms in 2022 compares favourably to the MSCI World Index (down 19.5 percent), the MSCI Emerging Market Index (down 22.4 percent) and the MSCI Frontier Market Index (down 26.3 percent). The tech-heavy NASDAQ was down 33 percent for the year. Top 5 Gainers in 2022 Company Name ISX Code Closing Price Price Chg (YTD) IQD % Mamoura Real-estate Inv. SMRI 9.450 287.3% Mansour Hotel HMAN 37.000 252.4% The Light and Mining Ind. (UCM) ITLI 0.850 174.2% Iraqi Engineering Works IIEW 6.100 136.4% Ishtar Hotels HISH 9.900 115.2% (Sources: Rabee Securites, www.investing.com) https://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2023/01/05/iraqi-shares-out-perform-world-markets/
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The last I heard the ISX was supposed to be back up and open on June 11. Did that happen..??
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ISX Was Opened For Business - 3/24/2020 No indicated currency changes for transactions http://www.isx-iq.net/isxportal/portal/homePage.html http://www.isx-iq.net/isxportal/portal/marketPerformance.html?marketType=0
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-URGENT- Luigi found this article of Dinarian interests... Treat as a rumor. Not varafied. Your opine. URGENT... 28 SEP 2019 Frank26: URGENT ...on [Iraqi] television and electronic billboards they're telling the citizens the ISX is about to allow the country of Iraq and its citizens to ENTER the international global market for TRADE... Companies right now are pouring in...they are about to tell us they are Article VIII... NASDAQ SIGNED A CONTRACT with the ISX to start selling internationally on October 1st...
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Does anyone have any info about stock holdings purchased through Warka? Can they be transferred? Any Warka updates? Is it possible to move accounts, or stocks!
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http://www.isc.gov.iq/sites/isc.gov.iq/files/annual2015.pdf For those who want empirical data on the ISX, here you go. As always, the interpretation of data is more powerful than simply words on a page. Again, a couple of gems are in the report. Blessings,
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Parliamentary Economy: preparations for an international investment conference for the port of FawEconomy and Tenders Since 01.27.2016 at 13:00 (GMT Baghdad) BAGHDAD - scales News Announced for the economic and investment commission member of the parliamentary proof Mamouri, on Wednesday, the start of the initial preparations for the holding of private international investment conference the port of Faw in Basra province. Said Mamouri in a statement received / scales News / copy of it, that "the committee embarked months ago to address the relevant authorities in order to speed up the completion of this vital project by investing the way, after we found the inability to provide the necessary funding to him through the budget, which have been adversely affected, down Iraq's imports allocations that rely on oil as a main source of funding. " The statement added, "The prime minister and the Ministry of Transportation approved the transfer of the project by investing, where a committee was formed of all relevant actors include representatives from the economic and investment commission in Parliament and the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Transport and representatives of the province of Basra and maritime transport, which will begin its meetings soon for the purpose of preparation for an international conference will be held a large investment in Basra called him international companies specialized in this type of project. " He pointed out that "the Commission will examine the possibility of allocating part of the project over the stock system, any direct shares are offered for subscription in the Iraq Stock Exchange here and we will let the citizen to contribute to the project, one of the best types of investment that will return profits to shareholders is good." However, that "what is important is the completion of the project, which will be imports no less important for oil imports, not to mention that it will provide jobs for large numbers of young people and operate related sectors." It ended 29/38
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its refreshing to see investors come back to the market. number of trades were very low for quite some time. monday witnessed well over 500 trades while tuesday was well into the 600s. i believe the isx is a good thermometer of volatility in the country. when investors begin heavily playing the market, it is a good sign for security and stability. now, if they would only release the latest news about the custodian banks. i would really like to know how many, if any, banks registered to begin operating as custodians to the isx. 21 September 2015 02:38 PM Mubasher: Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) saw a positive performance for the fifth straight session on Monday, rising 0.59% or 5.01 points to reach 851.13 points. Turnover reached IQD 592.67 million after 514,930 shares were traded through 544 transactions. Modern Sewing Company was the top gainers after rising 10% to JOD 3.08, while Gulf Insurance Company led losers after falling 2.63% to JOD 0.37% 20 September 2015 03:23 PM Mubasher: Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) saw a bearish performance on Sunday, rising 1.09% or 9.14 points to reach 846.12 points. Turnover reached IQD 691.55 million after 693,950 shares were traded through 529 transactions. Modern Sewing Company topped gainers after rising 8.53% to IQD 2.8, while Al Mansour Company for Pharmaceutical Industries was the worst performer after falling 4.26% to IQD 0.9. 17 September 2015 03:13 PM Mubasher: Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) closed in the green on Thursday, adding 0.15% or 1.28 points to reach 836.98 points. The market saw trading of 844,330 shares through 634 transactions, with turnover of IQD 974.5 million. Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank was the best performer after adding 9.26%, while Babylon Hotel led losers after falling 7.83%.
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Hey everyone I stumbled upon this awesome article about changes coming to the ISX. If I am reading this right, soon (forgive me using that term) brokers' clients will have the ability to access realtime trading information online. This will level the playing field SIGNIFICANTLY between non-iraqi and iraqi investors. The only problem is that I can't find the official article. The article below is from another dinar site without proper links. However the information is corroborated by the Rabee Security report that came out, "ISX has asked to produce offers for online stock trading system according to the investing instructions through an exclusive contract with a technical specification." Read more: http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/206208-iraq-stock-market-report/#ixzz3hp5wO7YE So it looks as if the ISX is requesting proposals for a 3rd party to install and manage a new online trading system. I am trying not to get too excited right now because I know how Iraq operates. We may not see this completed until 2 years from now. ps. looks like there is a pdf file out on Mubasher's site that looks official. I got a link to this from Recaps. =========================== Iraq Stock Exchange new online trading system calls to provide offers Posted on July 29, 2015 by TRC lraq Stock Exchange Automated Systems Department Invitation JulY 2015 On-Line Trading System We are inviting you to offer your offers of On-Line Trading System to perform the following functions: l- The System Hosting in Iraq Stock Exchange, and All the Equipment and Applications of this Project will be inside the Iraq Stock Exchange. 2. The; system must be compatible with the ISX X-Stream System 3. System consists of two Modules, the First Module is for Investor Services, and the Second Module is for Brokers Services’ 4. The Investors Services include : View market Data feed in Real time ‘ View their portfolios in the market, and their shares in the CSD ‘ Get all specific data, studies and news that are generated by ISX 5. The Brokers Services include: Ensure feeding market data to clients and investors Trading service via the Internet in real time to its investors Ensure open a handling account in the csD and in the Broker. Granting the ability to investors to view their portfolios and data Financial transfers between banks and the clearing bank and brokers Technical Analysis of the problems 6. The System must be compatible with IBM WebSphere Portal 7. The system must be compatible with IBM Mobile solution 8. The System Providing the Services vi Internet , Mobil App , SMS , Email ‘ Bid Conditions: l- – Offers (commercial and technical) should be delivered within the next 15 days after the announcement date 2. The company bears the cost of the system and the costs of operating the equipment . system, with an exclusive contract for the company to manage service 3. The company must give a technical support, And Training the ISX Technical Staff. Mubasher.info
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this may not be new knowledge for some but it is for me and i thought i would share with my friends. since going from a buy & hold strategy to a swing trader investment strategy on the isx, i have come into difficulty finding good technical analysis tools. it just seems as if no one out there is including the isx60 in the data links of their software. the only tools available are so rudimentary namely mubasher's charts and the charts provided over at iraqstockx (which quit updating sometime in april 2015). so basically nothing existed for anyone looking to study charts with the application of indicators and trending tools (bollinger bands, stochastics, macd, etc...) there is directfn that we have discussed in the past. they provide both an online tool and an application. the online tool is 50% the cost of their application and does not provide any charting capabilities. the application is pretty good though. both solutions allow for live feeds during the trading day for those who don't mind watching the market from 12-2am PST. the online tool is appox $250/yr while the application is $500/yr. this price is solely for the isx. as other exchanges are added, the price increases. $500/yr is a little steep for my blood though for just charting capabilities. i can see if the application is $500 and then there is a yearly subscription for feed data. here is my excitement in all of this. metastock is now adding the isx to the chart list. metastock is one of the premier tools out there (top 5). they are even running a 3 month subscription for the price of 1 month. prices vary according to the exchanges desired. for the isx the price is $59/mo. another option is to purchase the application for $450 and then pay $240/yr for a subscription (or $25/mo) for feed data. metastock's charting tools and capabilities are hands down some of the best out there. the only problem is that i can't get the isx data to display. i've been in contact with them and they forwarded me some information that i will try out tonight. i hope this goes well. if so, this will be my solution moving forward or at least until the free charting tools finally feed isx data. i just thought i would share that for anyone interested. i searched for hours to get this information and hope to save someone else time and effort.
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This is a pretty cool tool to use on your mobile device for tracking your stocks or creating a watchlist. It allows you to also enter your position and price-point offering P&L (profit & loss) data after each trading day. I use it on my Nexus 7 android tablet and love it. Here are all of the platforms it operates on: App Available On: iPhone | iPad | BlackBerry | Android | Android Tablet | Samsung | Samsung Tablet | Windows Phone
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For those watching, the ISX has been in a downtrend lately with investors getting out of their positions. If you haven't already, it might be prudent to get liquid as soon as possible in order to take advantage of the catfishing to take place eventually. I expect to close out of my last two positions in the next trading session for small losses after which I sit on the sidelines waiting for buyers to enter the market again. The gains to be made should be staggering. In order to time it right though I must identify exactly what is causing the extreme selling pressure. I don't believe it is ISIS and as a matter of fact a recent article reads that ISIS has taken a back seat to this latest emergency. I do believe it is the protest taking place in the streets right now with citizens being fed up at the lack of electricity. Iraq is experiencing a severe heat wave lately and the people are living in misery without the necessary electricity to power their air handlers. Anyone else have thoughts on what might be causing the sell-off? Thanks! ======================== link 20 Degrees and No Relief? ISIS Takes Back Seat for Iraqis By ANNE BARNARDAUG. 1, 2015 BAGHDAD — In the Iraqi summer, when the temperature rises above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, electricity becomes even more of a political issue than usual. This past week, at the top of Iraqis’ agenda, it has even eclipsed war with the Islamic State. The prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, declared a four-day weekend to keep people out of the sun, but he did not stop there. He also called in the electricity minister for emergency consultations, and ordered an end to one of the most coveted perks of government officials: round-the-clock power for their air-conditioners. Now, the scheduled daily power cuts that other Iraqis have long endured are to be imposed on government offices and officials’ homes. That may not be enough for Iraqis, whose oil-rich country has not supplied reliable electricity in Baghdad since the American invasion in 2003 — and in many provinces, far longer. One of the country’s largest recent grass-roots protests shut down traffic in Baghdad on Friday night, and more protests took place Saturday in southern Iraq. Amid the protests, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared a four-day weekend and ordered an end to a perk for government officials: round-the-clock power. Several thousand people — workers, artists and intellectuals — demonstrated Friday evening in Tahrir Square in the center of Baghdad, chanting and carrying signs about the lack of electricity and blaming corruption for it. They blocked traffic at a major roundabout, waiting until sundown to avoid the heat and to have more impact, since the streets are quieter during the day as people stay out of the sun. Some men stripped to their shorts and lay down in the street to sleep, a strong statement in a modest society where it is rare to see men bare-chested in public. The protest was unusual in that it did not appear to have been called for by any major political party. People carried Iraqi flags and denounced officials. Security forces with riot shields blocked them from moving across a bridge toward the restricted Green Zone where many officials live. Courteous police officers handed out water, a shift from earlier years when they responded harshly to electricity protests. One police officer there even denounced his commanders, saying they had sent him and other officers to infiltrate the protest as provocateurs. Instead, he had joined it in earnest. Shouting at a cellphone camera with the protest visible behind him, he said he was told to “ruin the protest.” Cursing his boss by name and flashing a police identity card, he added, “We will continue calling for our demands even if you fire me.” Within hours, Mr. Abadi praised the protesters for standing up for their rights, and called in the electricity minister. The minister told Parliament last week that the electricity grid would crank up to 11,000 megawatts, barely half of the summer’s peak demand of 22,000 megawatts. Normal capacity is closer to 8,500 megawatts. Earlier on Friday, in the weekly sermon in the shrine city of Karbala that typically addresses the political issues of the day, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric, had exhorted the government to address “the sufferings of citizens” over electricity. “Unfortunately, every government is blaming the government that came before it,” Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai, the representative, declared to a sweltering audience packing one of the city’s great shrines. He came around only later to the subject of the war on the militants of the Islamic State — also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh — who control large parts of the country. “The people are still patient towards the sufferings, and also they are sacrificing themselves to fight Daesh terrorism to defend Iraq,” he said. “But there are limits to patience.” That conflict made the even-hotter-than-usual temperatures in recent days an even bigger problem. More than three million people have been displaced by the fighting, and many lack basic shelter to protect them from the heat. On Saturday, residents protested in the southern cities of Basra and Karbala. Another demonstration was planned for Sunday in Babil, also in the south. Mr. Abadi, in a televised address, called the protests an “early warning” system about “an error that we must solve immediately, adding, “The people will resort to revolutionary sentiments if this situation continues.” Iraqis have been complaining about electricity at least since the United States toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. In the resulting security vacuum, widespread looting, which American troops had no orders to prevent, dismantled much of what had been left of the electricity grid, already eroded by years of sanctions and war. “Maku kahraba! Maku amn!” were the complaints leveled by pretty much all Iraqis to any American they came across back in those first days of the American occupation. “There is no electricity. There is no security.” In that order. Iraqis in Baghdad had been used to a fairly reliable supply of electricity. Mr. Hussein had kept the capital disproportionately supplied, with few power failures. It was different in the southern provinces, where residents are predominantly from the oppressed Shiite majority, which had risen up against Mr. Hussein in 1991 and was brutally suppressed. Many areas there got only a few hours of power a day. American occupation officials evened out the supply all over the country — making it more equitable but also shocking residents of Baghdad who were suddenly subjected to the long powerless days that other Iraqis had been used to. The cuts were also new and enraging to people in the Sunni heartland in the north and west, the fulcrum of Mr. Hussein’s residual support and of the brewing insurgency against the occupation. Among the failures of the American administration of Iraq was the inability to meet repeated promises to get the electricity back up to the levels under Mr. Hussein. Occupation officials put out charts trumpeting modest improvements. But a combination of insurgent attacks, incompetence and corruption kept the system struggling, both then and after political power was nominally handed to an Iraqi government in 2004. The problems have continued since American troops left in 2011. More than once, Iraqis sleeping on their rooftops to keep cool have been killed by stray gunfire. Many Iraqis have air-conditioners in their homes, but during power cuts only some can afford to pay for generators. Those who can must often scale back to fans and simple air coolers because there is not enough power for air-conditioners while on generator power, and sometimes even when on the regular grid. So the lucky ones drive around in their cars with the air-conditioning on, visit shopping malls, or wait for the air coolers to switch on and huddle around them in a single room. Those without that wherewithal find cool where they can, sometimes swimming in dirty, sewage-tainted pools and canals. Help is on the way, though, from Iran, which gained significant influence in Iraq after the fall of Mr. Hussein and the end of the troubled American involvement. According to Iran’s state-run Press TV, in the country’s biggest engineering services deal ever, an Iranian company recently signed a deal to add 3,000 megawatts to the grid by building a $2.5 billion power plant in Basra. It will be supplied by a pipeline carrying Iranian natural gas. Omar Al-Jawoshy and Falih Hassan contributed reporting.
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Zain’s joint stock company in Iraq, ‘Al-Khatem’, lists on Iraqi Stock Exchange, completes first day of trading - 25% of company’s shares offered to the investor community, share price closes at 5.99 Iraqi Dinar, reflecting a market capitalization of US$9.4 billion - Al-Khatem Managing Director, Bader Al Kharafi: Zain Iraq will further grow its market leadership position rewarding all the company’s stakeholders Baghdad, June 24, 2015 Further to the joint agreement and memorandum announced on April 28, 2015 between Al-Khatem J.S.C, parent company of Atheer Telecom Iraq Limited (trading under the brand name “Zain” in Iraq), the Iraqi CMC (Communications and Media Commission), the ISC (Iraq Securities Commission), the ISX (Iraq Stock Exchange), and the IDC (Iraq Depositary Center), Al-Khatem announces the completion of its listing procedure and fulfilling all of its obligations towards the regulators in a successful manner within the required two months. Al-Khatem has now commenced trading its shares on the exchange and is open to public investment. Zain has been operating in Iraq since 2003; investing in over US$5 billion to date establishing essential mobile telecommunications infrastructure in Iraq and employing over 2500 Iraqi nationals. In accordance with its license terms, 25% of the equity of Al-Khatem was offered to the investor community on the Iraqi stock market by one of the founding shareholders of the Company. The first day of trading saw the share price closing at 5.99 (with an average price of 6.09) Iraqi Dinar (IQD) per share reflecting a market capitalization for Al-Khatem of 10.96 trillion IQD (US$ 9.4 billion) and leading to a substantial increase in the ISX’s total market capitalization. Bader Al Kharafi, Managing Director of Al-Khatem and Vice-Chairman of Zain Group said, “This milestone of listing on the Iraq Stock Exchange and offering of shares to Iraqi nationals and investors reflects Zain’s confidence and commitment to the future development of the telecommunications sector in Iraq. We thank all the regulators and the governing bodies, who have worked professionally and transparently throughout the entire process, for assisting us to arrive at this monumental position.” Al Kharafi continued, “We look forward to the participation of the investor community in one of the most profitable and resilient companies in Iraq and the region as the mobile operator enters a new phase in its growth strategy with the recent launching of 3G services across the country.” Al-Kharafi also noted that, "We have utmost faith in the Zain Iraq management team to overcome the unique market challenges and Zain Group will continue to support them in all facets of the operations. We are confident that Zain Iraq will further grow its market leadership position rewarding all the company’s stakeholders." Mr. Taha AbdulSalam, CEO of the ISX commented, “The success of any economy depends on its ability to attract investment capital whether foreign or local within the framework of joint-stock companies. That increases capital formation for the economy and contributes towards the private sector and the gross domestic product. That is the mechanism seen in establishing and operating of companies traded on the stock market, and so we expect the Al Khatem Telecom listing and trading of with a capital exceeding one trillion, eight hundred billion dinars and having more than 500 shareholders.” All interested investors can acquire shares in Al-Khatem through contacting any of the authorized brokers listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange. END
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I am sure this article was posted in the past (although I could not find it). It is a couple years old. Pay close attention though to the term "re-rating". This is what we are really hoping for as we watch Iraq emerge. ======================== Bargains on the Baghdad Exchange Iraq's economy is on the mend, and its tiny stock market looks poised to boom. Why Geoff Batt and Grant Felgenhauer of the Euphrates Iraq Fund, the country's largest non-Iraqi investors, like Bank of Baghdad, Al-Mamoura Real Estate, and Pepsi distributor Baghdad Soft Drinks, the country's largest soft drink provider with 80% of the market. By BILL ALPERT July 27, 2013 Americans sacrificed lives and billions of dollars in Iraq. Geoffrey Batt, 35, is optimistic that those sacrifices weren't in vain. In 2010, the investor started what is now the largest U.S.-managed hedge fund devoted to that recovering nation. Since inception, the $62 million Euphrates Iraq fund has returned about 30%, as the Iraqi people build a modern economy underwritten by record levels of oil production. Joined by his partner Grant Felgenhauer, 39, Batt told us why Iraq's little stock market may be poised for a rally reminiscent of postwar Germany, 1990s Russia, Hong Kong, or South Korea. Barron's: How did you wind up in Iraq, Geoff ? Batt: I didn't know the distinction between a stock and a bond when I was an undergrad. My intention was to pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy and become a college professor. But junior year, I took a graduate seminar, and there was a third-year Ph.D. student who was the smartest guy in the class. He also looked like he may have routinely slept in his clothes. We would go to lunch after class and talk about philosophy and current events. After knowing him for a year, I told him that I had to leave school because I couldn't afford to pay the following year's tuition. And he said, "Maybe I can help you." Enlarge Image Geoffrey Batt, left, and Grant Felgenhauer see Iraq as the next historic equity "rerating." Gary Spectpr for Barron's "Before I decided to pursue a Ph.D.," he told me, "I created the first fund to invest in post-Soviet Russia, called Firebird. That's how I made my fortune. I'm starting a new venture that will focus on Asia, ex-Japan. Why don't you come work for me for a year and learn how the world works? The last thing we need is another philosopher who doesn't know anything about the real world. If we do well, I'll pay you a bonus that will cover your tuition." Who was this guy? Batt: Daniel Cloud. If you could only see this guy telling you that he'd created the first fund to invest in Russia -- I mean he looked, on certain days, like maybe he actually slept outside. It didn't fit my conception of what a wealthy person looked like. I left the conversation a little scared. But I looked him up on Google, and sure enough, everything he'd said was true. There was a story and pictures of him and Firebird's other founding partner in Barron's in the mid-'90s. Was he better dressed for Barron's? Batt: Oh yeah, he was in a suit and a tie. He cleans up well. I was intrigued. I talked to my parents, and they said, "We think you're nuts, but you can do what you want." So I worked for Dan for a year. We focused on East Asian emerging markets like Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia. They did very well that year. I got my bonus, and it paid my tuition. Actually, I had money left over to invest. I went back to school and would sit in the lecture hall with my laptop reading 10-Qs and 10-Ks, rather than listening to the teacher. My heart simply wasn't in it anymore. After a semester, I decided to go part-time so that I could focus more on markets. Eventually, I just dropped out, two classes short of graduation. Chalk it up to Latin. I just couldn't pass Latin, no matter how I tried. In retrospect, a foolish decision. Maybe I was a bit mad myself. Then I started looking for the next Russia, the next historic equity "rerating." And I was a bit despondent because in the summer of 2007 just about everything that you can think of was in a bull market. Emerging markets were very fashionable. Commodities were in a fifth or sixth year of a big bull market. Even currencies had spectacular moves. "Rerating" means what? Batt: Think of a rerating as earnings growth and multiple expansion at the same time. You get this compounding effect. Grant Felgenhauer: Successful reratings have three characteristics: No. 1, stable currency and prices; No. 2, the ability for the economy to grow into something significant; and No. 3, very low valuations. Batt: In the summer of 2007, I happened to come across an article about how Iraq was increasing its oil production. I thought to myself this is a strange thing. All I knew was what I read in the newspapers or saw on television. I'd thought Iraq was a failed state, fighting a civil war. How on earth did a failed state increase oil production? This was the sort of thing Dan taught me to look for -- a very wide gap between perception and reality. The wider the gap, the bigger the opportunity to make money. So I looked more closely and saw that it wasn't just oil that was increasing. Deposits in the banking sector had started to rise rapidly; electricity generation was rising. Their currency was stable. Violence from terrorism -- which was around 4,000 fatalities a month at its peak in 2006 -- had dropped to about 1,000 a month, down about 75%. I went to the stock exchange Website in December 2007, got all the brokers' addresses, and e-mailed everyone. Something like five responded...two in English...one in coherent English. I went with that guy. Opened an account, wired some $2,000, bought a stock, sold it the next day, and wired the money back to my bank in New York -- all to see if I could get the money out. There was no problem, and I just went from there. I told Dan about it, and he said something like, "You've come to me with 100 ideas, and 99 of them have been either average or bad. But I know this one is really good, because the very first thing I thought was, How can I steal it from you?" Come 2010, I told Dan that there could be demand for a hedge fund, but none existed. We launched Euphrates with $5 million of our own money, in October. We didn't start taking outside investment until late December 2010, after I published an article about Iraq in the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report. The newsletter published by Barron's Roundtable member Marc Faber. Batt: Yes. He became an investor in our fund. A lot of high net-worth individuals read his newsletter. We went from $5 million to $27 million pretty quickly. That's when I brought Grant in. Once Grant came on board, we really started to grow. Now we are up to $68 million, including managed accounts. Where'd he find you, Grant ? Felgenhauer: I started my career thinking that I would spend the rest of my life working in post-Soviet Russia. I made my first trip there during high school in 1991 and continued to go back every year during college. In 2004, I joined a firm called Hermitage Capital, which was the largest portfolio investor in the Russian equity market. I came to Hermitage because its manager Bill Browder had invested successfully in the treacherous operating environment of Moscow. Russia had been experiencing one of these historic equity reratings that happen once in a generation. Hermitage moved to London in 2007 and launched a global fund focused on frontier and emerging markets. We looked at Iraq, and in the course of that work, I met Geoff. When he described what was happening on the ground in Iraq, it sounded like Moscow in 1994-95. I invested in his fund individually, in the summer of 2011. Then I joined Euphrates in April 2012. So how's Baghdad these days? Batt: It's surprisingly normal, though all you see on TV are bullets and bomb blasts. So it's not like The Hurt Locker? Batt: Nothing like that. The violence in Iraq is high-profile violence, sure, because there are bombs going off. But it's concentrated in a few areas in the west and the north: some parts of Baghdad, but mostly places like Fallujah, Mosel, Kirkuk, Tikrit. Yet most of the oil is in the south, and that's where it's actually safest. In the main business district of Baghdad, you can walk around at night, window shop, and go to restaurants. You look out your hotel room window and see two guys playing tennis in the middle of the afternoon, other guys jogging down the street, kids playing in a playground. Felgenhauer: Rising GDP per capita is going to overwhelm any kind of divide between the people, sectarian or otherwise. It also means that the guys setting off bombs have no following. Iraq has a terrorism problem now, not a civil-war problem. Are there other foreign investors like yourselves in Iraq now? Batt: In 2008, I was one of three or four people in the West investing more than a million dollars in the Iraqi stock market. There are a few more now. Felgenhauer: The stock exchange keeps track of Iraqi trading and non-Iraqi trading. Non-Iraqis rarely reach 20% of daily turnover, and often much lower than that. If you consider non-Arab foreigners, it is basically us and a few other funds, none of which is larger than $30 million. That will change. How big is the Baghdad market? Batt: When I first invested in 2008, the exchange had a market cap of $1.8 billion, smaller than the Palestinian Stock Exchange. By 2013, it had a $5 billion market cap. Mid-February, it was $10 billion, because of a $5 billion IPO -- the largest in the Middle East in five years, a mobile telecommunications operator called Asiacell [ticker: TASC.Iraq].You will have another $5 billion telecom IPO late this year or early next year. OK. What's in your portfolio? Batt: A key difference between the Iraqi stock market and Russia is that in Russia you were investing directly in Lukoil or Gazprom. In Iraq, oil is state-owned. Felgenhauer: A good analogy is Saudi Arabia. As an equity investor in Saudi Arabia, you never own a piece of Aramco. But you can own everything that benefits from the liquidity provided by Aramco. So banks are about 45% of our portfolio, real estate is just over a quarter, consumer goods is about the same, and the rest is logistics, trucking, hotels. Batt: We think of a bank as a leveraged investment on the growth of a country, particularly when a country goes from not having a banking system to having a banking system. The banks can go from being very, very tiny to colossal in a relatively short period of time, short being defined as 15 years. They can go from having $300 million to $40 billion to $50 billion in assets. Picks Recent Company Ticker Price Bank of Baghdad BBOB 1.97* Baghdad Soft Drinks IBSD 2.36 Al-Mamoura Real Estate SMRI 3.75 Companies trade on the Iraq Stock Exchange. Prices in Iraqi dinars. *As of 7/02/13. Source: Bloomberg Felgenhauer: We own Bank of Baghdad [bBOB.Iraq]. It is Iraq's No. 2 private bank, by assets, with a market cap of roughly $300 million. It's inconceivable to me that in 10 years the market cap will be $300 million. Batt: In Saudi Arabia, over the past 50 years, you've had a 114,000% increase in the assets of their banking system. Bank of Baghdad is now about $1.4 billion in assets. You could easily imagine this bank having $15 billion or $20 billion in assets in the next 10 years. Let's say it has $20 billion in assets and a 2% return on those assets. It would earn $400 million, which is greater than its market cap right now. We are also investing in consumer products. We own 7.5% of Baghdad Soft Drinks [iBSD.Iraq], which is the Pepsi bottling distribution company for Iraq. Pepsi is the No. 1 soft drink in Iraq, and the company has 80% of Baghdad's soft-drink market. Iraq is one of the hottest places on earth. We have rising per-capita GDP and a young, rapidly growing population. So it is an ideal environment to be investing in the soft-drink business, particularly one as well managed as this company is. Felgenhauer: And it is trading at seven-times earnings. Tell us another of your holdings. Felgenhauer: We own a real-estate company -- Al-Mamoura Real Estate [sMRI.Iraq]. They own the single largest undeveloped plot of land in suburban Baghdad, which is an asset that is going to do great things in this kind of cycle that we are just starting. In the meantime, they just build seven-story apartment buildings over and over again, whose units sell like hot cakes. What limits Iraq's capital markets? Felgenhauer: Illiquidity. The exchange's daily trading volume is between $2 million and $4 million. You can have some days where you trade $30 million, but it is a small market. What else is missing? Batt: Major third-party custodians. Institutional investors invariably bring up custody as their No. 1 concern. Now, custody is via the stock exchange itself. But a large $50 billion regional bank, called National Bank of Kuwait, is thinking about offering custody. Felgenhauer: Citibank just went into Iraq. Batt: And JPMorgan announced that they are going back in. Standard Charter is going back in. You can easily imagine third-party custody put into place within a 12-to-18 month period. That could lead to a significant amount of foreign money coming in. You must be optimists. Batt: Iraq is a very diverse place. It is arguably the most important place for Shia Islam, but at the same time it is a cosmopolitan and progressive place. You have Sunni and Shia Muslims, Arab Christians, Kurdish Christians, Kurdish Sunnis, Syrians, even Zoroastrians. It's a melting pot of ethnicities and religions. I met with the CEO of the stock exchange, and one assistant comes into his office dressed in traditional Arab clothing. She won't even shake your hand. The next assistant comes in, and she's wearing a black miniskirt with stiletto boots and a lot of makeup. She looks like she could be walking down the street in SoHo. And they are working together. The CEO of the largest bank in Iraq is a woman. Twenty-five percent of parliament is made up of women. Felgenhauer: What's happening there is reshaping the Middle East and affecting every neighbor. Saudi Arabia is terrified of Iraq. They see a country that is growing oil production and where a quarter of the parliament are women who can drive and do whatever they want. It scares them to death. Batt: And they have regular elections. May your optimism be rewarded! E-mail: editors@barrons.com
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okay so with all the buzz happening about zain actively trading the isx on june 23rd, what are you all's strategy? i have to admit that i may have jumped the gun on asiacell in 2013 at its ipo. although i have received nice dividend checks to help make up for it, i took a big hit from its poor performance. i definitely don't want to repeat those mistakes. on the other side though, from how i am reading things, TZNI (zain) will not debut like TASC did. instead of an IPO, they are going to simply allow the demand for the stock decide its price and so on june 23rd they will release 457B shares on the market. i think this may reduce some of the risk inherent in the IPO process like we saw with TASC. i also wonder what affect something this huge will initially have on the market. amazing times as we are seeing the isx's capital increase by leaps and bounds. Thoughts?
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So I am looking at my portfolio with a lot of pride. Up until today I have, through the grace of God, managed a stunning portfolio. At least this is what I was telling myself until a killjoy peeked over my spreadsheet and with a crooked smile retorted, "good morning." Asiacell! You heartbreaker who just wont go away. Okay, fine. I figure it is time I faced this issue and it is better late than never. No savvy investor should practice holding a losing stock, and I violated this rule with Asiacell. Perhaps I should have let her go a while ago in loyalty to my 3% loss rule whereas after a 3% hit, a stock must be sold for a loss. My question to investment friends is "what to do about Asiacell?" Viable Strategies (my personal consideration highlighted blue) Buy more If you were like me, you got in on this stock at its initial offering (22 points). Today the stock can most likely be purchased at just under 10. This would bring the average buy to 16 which might be a good price point if it is ever to recover. A person would have to ask themselves if they can see this stock rising to 16 points in the near future? Additionally is the handsome dividend payouts which do not appear to be lessening any time soon. I haven't experienced any other stock coming remotely close to the dividend payout of TASC. Owning more shares of TASC might equate a significant increase in yearly dividends. This option is a medium consideration for me especially if I elect to double my holdings. It is a fine time to execute a buy order as well since the stock appears to be near its bottom {nowhere to go but up}. Hold One could sit on the stock and just collect dividend checks while hoping it rebounds. Believing it will rebound however might be QUITE a stretch. A person has to first understand why it fell before they can believe why it would rebound. In my estimation, TASC fell because majority holders of it are foreign investors (75% I believe) who are very skittish about the situation in Iraq. As the security situation in Iraq improves, foreign investment will recover which could me good things for share price of TASC. This option is a weak consideration for me. I do not believe TASC will more than double its current value within any reasonable time frame especially once its competitor ZAIN comes to the bourse. TASC should probably lose market share as other telecoms become available. With AGM a ways out (December most likely) it is risky to hold through AGM and try capitalizing on any 2016 dividend payout. Sell It This is probably the most favorable decision for TASC holders seeing how its competitors are poised to come online in the near future. Even though TASC is hovering around its all time low, it might even fall further once the buzz of ZAIN fills the air. Letting go of a loser stock is tough to do because of realized losses, but a savvy investor has to know when to call it quits even when quit should have been a long time ago. This is my strongest consideration currently. I am leaning toward cutting it loose. Hopefully the dividend payout for 2015 will help recover some of my losses, but it is risky business to continue holding the stock. What are your thoughts my friends?
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Oil price decline blessing in disguise for Iraqi stock market Orlando Crowcroft February 7, 2015 Updated: February 7, 2015 06:02 PM It was less than a year ago that international investors were talking about Iraq as the next big thing. The Iraqi mobile phone company Asiacell had completed its US$1.3 billion initial public offering and daily trading on the Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) had risen above $10 million – from just $500,000 a few years earlier. The ISX had its challenges – from a lack of liquidity to serious security concerns, the latter famously forcing its chief executive to carry a gun at all times – but those investment funds that had got in when times were bad were reaping the rewards, with annual returns of between six and seven per cent and a steady rise in trading volumes. When terrorist group ISIL took Mosul in June last year, the situation was, unsurprisingly, reversed. FMG, a US investment company, had 23.95 per cent wiped off its fund in a matter of weeks. Other companies pulled out altogether. Even those that remained ended the year down 20 per cent or 30 per cent as concerns remain about Iraq’s future. “How it pans out is really anyone’s guess,” said Sherif Salem, a portfolio manager at Invest AD, which launched an ISX-focused fund in 2010. Average daily trading on the ISX when Invest AD launched its fund was between $1m and $2m, but over five years that increased to $15m as listings such as Asiacell – as well as general bullishness about Iraqi demographics – buoyed the banking sector, which makes up more than 50 per cent of the ISX. Now, says Mr Salem, the ISX struggles to do more than $1m per day. The crash in oil prices will not help. Coming alongside the war against ISIL, the halving of the price of crude on global markets has forced Iraq to increase production from 3.5 million to 4 million barrels per day and issue a more conservative budget that will still put the country at a significant deficit. As with all Middle East markets, the oil price slide cannot help but temper exuberance on Iraq’s bourse. That said, investors feel that this year could be a good year for Iraq, both politically and economically. The international campaign against ISIL is gathering steam, and the new government, headed by Haider Al Abadi, has been well received, with the new prime minister considered a far better bet than the divisive Nouri Al Maliki. Many have been impressed with how Iraq has dealt with its dual crises so far. “We had almost a perfect storm last year, [but] what has happened since is we have seen the threat of ISIL contained because of the global effort, a government that seems to be more inclusive than the last and a correction in the oil price,” said Shwan Taha, the chairman of the Iraqi brokerage Rabee Securities. “All of a sudden we have reached this point where we are seeing new interest in the market. I’m not saying people are buying, but inquiries are increasing,” he added. Geoffrey Batt, a US-based fund manager at Euphrates Advisors, which manages a US$90m Iraq-based equities fund, remains as bullish as ever on the prospects. Like Mr Taha, he has been comforted by the way the Iraqi government has acted to combat its issues, particularly in the unified military campaign within Iraq between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. “ISIL presented Iraq with an existential choice, and look how they responded – by peacefully transferring power and forming a new government. That new government immediately sprang to action … Informed opinion had no doubt Iraq was finished in June 2014, but in the short span of seven months [it] looks stronger than it did before ISIL went on its rampage,” said Mr Batt. Henrik Kahm, an investment analyst at FMG, has also been buoyed by the strength of the Iraqi response to ISIL, particularly after Mr Al Maliki’s government, which was roundly criticised for abandoning many towns and cities when the militant group launched its offensive last year, ceded power. But the fight is not over yet, and investors will be watching closely this year. “We see that ISIL will continue to lose ground on the back of continued cooperation between local and international forces, but it will likely take time to eliminate ISIL and affiliated groups as the region remains unstable because of the Syrian conflict … our outlook for the Iraqi companies obviously depend on what course the country will steer during 2015,” said Mr Kahm. The war against ISIL since the appointment of Mr Al Abadi has undoubtedly boosted unity between the government in Baghdad and the Kurdish north, which had been increasingly fractious in the first half of last year. But it has also made regulators and the government increasingly receptive to reforms that would strengthen the ISX, and the decline in oil prices have been partly responsible for that, said Mr Taha. Rabee Securities was the sole organiser of the Asiacell 2013 listing and has been pushing for reforms to the exchange for some years, including the establishment of a custodian bank. Mr Taha said that at last it seems that the authorities are listening. “The government has to balance the budget, and we are seeing serious efforts towards reforming the country – in both Baghdad and Kurdistan. These reforms would never have been talked about seriously unless there had been a steep decline in the oil price. So this is a blessing in disguise,” he said. Mr Batt agreed, arguing that lower oil prices had forced Iraqi politicians to think seriously about increasing capital formation and stimulating economic growth. He said that politicians are now open to discussing the privatising of state-owned banks and utilities, providing tax incentives for private companies that list on the ISX and establishing a third-party custodian bank. “For the first time in the eight years I’ve been investing there, Iraqi politicians are talking about the importance of capital markets, particularly the ISX,” he said. “The ISX has the potential to attract $10bn-plus of capital into the country if it is properly utilised. At $100 oil, the government could afford to neglect the exchange’s potential. At $50 oil, they have to take it seriously.” business@thenational.ae Follow The National’s Business section on Twitter
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Investors play a long game for bargains in strife-torn Iraq Orlando Crowcroft February 7, 2015 Updated: February 7, 2015 06:06 PM “Buy when there’s blood in the streets” — credited to Baron Nathan Rothschild, 1871 Fund managers focused on the Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) say that last year’s events presented an opportunity to buy shares in listed companies at bargain prices — but only if investors are willing to play the long game. They say that in areas such as the Iraqi banking sector — which makes up more than 50 per cent of the ISX — blue-chip listed banks are trading at or below book value but still providing dividend yields of up to 10 per cent, making them an excellent long-term bet. “We have historically seen growth rates of around 30 per cent in the banking sector, and see huge long-term potential in this largely unbanked market,” said Henrik Kahm, an investment analyst at FMG, a US fund management company. Sherif Salem, a portfolio manager at Invest AD in Abu Dhabi, said that while profits were down across the sector last year, loans and deposits year on year were up, as a double-digit decline in the third quarter was followed by a sharp reversal in the fourth quarter. Geoffrey Batt, who manages an ISX-focused fund for New York-based Euphrates, pointed out that the largest private banks in Iraq have roughly US$1.5 billion in assets, up from less than $100 million a decade ago. “We believe a few of these banks, particularly ones that focus on Baghdad and southern Iraq, will have $20bn to $30bn balance sheets in seven to 10 years. That would imply earnings of $400m to $600m, which exceeds their current market caps.” Indeed, from a general investment perspective, fund managers and investors find the same aspects of the Iraq economy attractive as they did in 2009 and 2010. A country of 35 million with huge oil reserves, potential growth in Iraq was being estimated pre-ISIL as high as 8 per cent annually by the World Bank. While those expectations will have fallen for this year, the fundamentals remain. “You could argue that there is the same potential. There is the added risk, of course, but as far as the outlook and the potential that we saw when we first launched our fund — and that is a country that was rebuilding, demographic favourable with a lot of pent-up demand — that is still there,” said Mr Salem. Mr Batt agreed, adding that the issues Iraq faced last year and will continue to tackle in 2015 would not put Euphrates off Iraq, even if its fund fell 13 per cent in 2014. “Volatility often results in mispriced assets, especially in small, illiquid markets like the ISX. Extreme price declines do not bother us because we are not concerned with performance on a monthly or quarterly basis,” he said. “We want to buy businesses that can grow 10 to 20 times in the next decade, and if market volatility allows us to buy those businesses at lower prices we are happy to exploit the opportunity.” Fund managers are focused on other areas too, citing the ISX heavyweight Baghdad Soft Drinks, which fared well in 2014, only showing a revenue drop of 8 per cent despite the political and economic issues over the past eight months. “It is one of the few listed consumer companies in the developing markets that looks very attractive. The company is looking to expand into new product segments, fuelling growth,” said Mr Kahm. business@thenational.ae Follow The National’s Business section on Twitter
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I could be totally wrong ,but it appears Waarka is now asking for 1000,000,000 IQD in Capital to Invest. I am not the ISX guru, so I would love the opinions of those that are. warkaa company Choose Performance Chart Basic Info Announcements News Financials Key Ratios Address Al-Kalanie Sequare / Al-Warka Bank Building Initial Capital : 1,000,000,000 IQD TEL Mobile 07901403662 Fax - Email - Web Site - Manager jasim mutlib motar http://www.isx-iq.net/isxportal/portal/brokerDetails.html?brokerId=14