Amman Stock Exchange in 2025: Record Rise and Exceptional Performance Crowned with the Arab Stock Exchanges Award

The Amman Stock Exchange won the annual award of the Union of Arab Capital Markets for 2025 as the best performing Arab stock exchange after being classified by Bloomberg as the best Arab stock exchange, and ranked 13th globally last year.

The award was received by the Executive Director of the Amman Stock Exchange, Mazen Al-Wazifi, during the annual meeting and conference of the Union of Arab Capital Markets - Abu Dhabi 2026 in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, from September 29-30, in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Securities Market.

This award and recognition are given in appreciation of the outstanding performance achieved by the stock exchange during 2025, which contributed to its leading position among Arab stock exchanges and its ranking 13th globally.

Financial expert Wadi Al-Makhamara told the Jordanian News Agency (Petra) that the market's rise in 2025 reflects a significant shift in the performance of the Amman Stock Exchange, but reading this rise requires distinguishing between the rise in stock prices and the actual improvement in the performance of companies and the economy.

He pointed out that this rise is due to a set of interrelated factors, most notably: government measures to support the financial market, the rise in profits of listed companies, trading and liquidity, and increased investor confidence in the market and the national economy, in addition to the re-evaluation of a number of stocks that were trading at low levels compared to their fundamentals.

The positive expectations for the national economy and its achievement of growth rates exceeding expectations, the continued monetary and financial stability, the improvement of foreign reserves and the performance of the productive and service sectors and exports, also contributed to enhancing investor interest.

According to Makhamara, the rise was not just a passing wave but was based on a real improvement in the fundamentals, but the rise of the index by 45.1 percent, which is much larger than the growth in profits, indicates that future expectations and the re-pricing of stocks played a fundamental role.

In evaluating stocks, he confirms that it is not possible to issue a uniform judgment on the market, as some stocks may remain attractive given their profits, distributions, and book value, while the prices of other stocks may have reflected a large part of the positive expectations.

He explained that the next phase requires greater reliance on fundamental analysis, by monitoring profit growth, indebtedness, cash flows, distributions, and profitability and book value multiples, rather than relying solely on the movement of the index.

He considered that the fundamental challenge facing the stock exchange is the transition from a rise in prices to a deeper, more liquid, and sustainable market, through increased trading, expanding the base of institutional investors, attracting long-term foreign investments, and increasing listings in sectors such as technology, renewable energy, mining, logistics, tourism, and export industries.

He called for the development of new financial instruments, enhancing disclosure, governance, and the protection of investors' rights, and encouraging large private and family companies to transition to public joint-stock companies and list them on the market.

Makhamara identified five key factors that will affect the direction of the market: corporate profit growth, interest rates and monetary policy, local economic developments, regional developments and tensions, and foreign investor inflows and local liquidity.

For his part, financial expert Dr. Omar Al-Gharaybah believed that the rise of the Amman Stock Exchange in 2025 was not a direct reflection of profit growth, but rather a broad re-pricing of the market that combined improved corporate performance, increased liquidity, and changing investor appetite.

He pointed out that the rise in the index was accompanied by a 50.1 percent increase in market value to about 26.5 billion Jordanian dinars, and a 80.6 percent increase in trading value to about 2.2 billion Jordanian dinars.

The prices of 106 companies rose, including 90 companies by more than 10 percent, with significant gains in the electrical, mining, extraction, and banking industries, but the difference between the rise in the index and the growth in profits remains pivotal, as the profits of listed companies after tax rose by only 12.9 percent, compared to 45.1 percent for the index.

He explained that this does not necessarily mean there is an overvaluation, but it means that investors have priced in future expectations along with current results, indicating that the real test will be the ability of profits, cash flows, and distributions to catch up with prices, as the continued growth of the economic value of companies will enhance the market's ability to support its new levels.

He pointed to the concentration of the market, as phosphate mines accounted for about 28.4 percent of the market value, Arab Bank 16 percent, and Arab Potash 11 percent in September 2025, making the index sensitive to the movement of a limited number of companies despite the expansion of the base of profitable companies.

At the regional level, the price-to-earnings ratio in the Amman Stock Exchange was about 11.5 times in January last year, compared to 18.3 times in Saudi Arabia, 19 times in the UAE, and 8.5 times in Egypt, placing the Jordanian market in a medium position, reflecting at the same time the limited liquidity and narrow base of companies compared to deeper markets.

Al-Gharaybah emphasized that the next phase requires expanding the base of listed companies, especially in technology, financial technology, energy, logistics, health, and tourism, increasing free shares, and deepening the base of institutional investors, and converting new projects into companies capable of listing and financing from the market.