Jul. 20--AMMAN -- Share price of Capital Bank fell by 0.58 per cent Sunday after a weeklong suspension from trading, a drop described by brokers as "reassuring" to investors and shareholders in the bank.

Last Sunday, the Jordan Securities Commission suspended trading in Capital Bank shares in response to a request by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ), which dissolved the Capital Bank's board of directors after a CBJ committee detected administrative mismanagement that contradicted good corporate governance at the bank.

"Many investors, who trade through our offices, have been waiting for the bank's shares to resume trading as they were planning to sell, but today the market went up and no dumping of the shares happened so they did not sell," Shadi Abdeen, a broker at the Investment House, said Sunday.

A total of 270,724 Capital Bank shares were traded Sunday with an average price of JD1.71, as the Amman bourse continued its upward trend for the third trading day in a row and rose by 1.9 per cent yesterday.

After the dissolution of the bank's board of directors, whose chairman was an Iraqi, rumours circulated last week that major Iraqi businessmen have threatened to withdraw their investments from the bourse and the bank.

"None of the major Iraqi investors sold their shares in the bank as rumours circulated. That was so reassuring to investors," said Jawad Kharouf, the president of the Association of Certified Capital Market Professionals.

Kharouf and Abdeen attributed the rise in the bourse to the improvement in regional markets, expecting the market to continue its upward trend during the week.

A broker, who preferred not to be named, said many investors during Sunday's trading session decided not to sell their shares in the Capital Bank after they saw that no dumping on its shares took place.

-----

To see more of the Jordan Times or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jordantimes.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, Jordan Times, Amman

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NASDAQ-NMS:CBKN,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.