The total value of shares that were bought by non-Jordanian investors at the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) in December 2017 was JD26.7 million, representing 21.4% of the overall trading value, while the value of shares sold by them amounted to JD29.6 million. As a result, the net of non-Jordanian investments in December 2017 showed a decrease by JD2.9 million, compared with an increase by JD42.8 million during the same month of 2016.
The total value of shares that were bought by non-Jordanian investors during 2017 was JD994.9 million, representing 34% of the overall trading value, while the value of shares sold by them amounted to JD1329.2 million. As a result, the net of non-Jordanian investments showed a decrease of JD334.3 million, compared to an increase by JD237.1 million in 2016. The reason for this decline in the net investments is due mainly to selling of a Lebanese company; Oger Middle East Holding its stake in the Arab Bank to a group of Arab and Jordanian investors through a block trade held in February 2017, the volume of the block trade amounted JD794.4 million.
Arab investors purchases during 2017 were JD638.7 million, or 64.2% of the overall purchases by non-Jordanians, while the value of non-Arab purchases amounted to JD356.3 million, constituting 35.8% of the total purchases. Arab investors sales amounted to JD1177.6 million, 88.6% of non-Jordanians total sales, while the value of non-Arab sales amounted to JD151.6 million, representing 11.4% of the total sales by non-Jordanians.
Non-Jordanian investors' ownership in companies listed at the ASE by end of December 2017 represented 48.1% of the total market value, 35.9% for Arab investors and 12.2% for non-Arab investors. At the sector level, the non-Jordanian ownership in the financial sector was 53.8%, in the services sector was 19.7%, and in the industrial sector was 52.7%