'TASI establishes base over 6,000 points'
Published: Jul 30, 2010 22:59 Updated: Jul 30, 2010 22:59
JEDDAH/AMMAN: Saudi stocks scored fresh gains at the start of the week but dipped later due to profit-taking.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) gained 2.90 percent last week, closing at 6,266.81 points.
"I believe TASI has established a strong base over the 6,000-point level," Saudi analyst Tareq Madi said. "The basic weakness remains in the liquidity shortage which is a phenomenon shared more or less by all Arab stock markets."
The stock market turnover for the week was SR12.84 billion. On a week-to-week basis, the sector activity was positively biased with all sectors closing with gains ranging from 0.35 percent by the Transport sector to 9.13 percent by Media & Publishing sector, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its weekly market commentary.
The top gainers for the week were Al-Mouwasat Medical Services Co. with a gain of 14.55 percent to close at SR4.75.
Arab stock markets rallied last week, drawing momentum from global market gains, better world recovery outlook and stable oil prices, financial analysts said Friday.
They expected Arab markets to extend gains in the coming weeks in response to improving business sentiment in the United States and Germany and the resulting positive impact on the Wall Street and other key bourses of the world.
"I believe Arab stock markets are in a consolidation phase which paves the ground for further gains, given the rally at global markets and the jump in business sentiment in the world's major economies," Nizar Taher, chief of brokerage at the Jordan Ahli Bank, said.
He said that oil prices, which appeared to have stabilized over $75 a barrel over the past couple of weeks, will help regional markets, particularly in the Gulf region, to score fresh gains.
However, Taher and other Arab analysts believe that the liquidity crunch sill represented the key factor that impeded Arab stock markets from catching up with world bourses.
Jordanian shares rebounded last week, reflecting improving liquidity and foreign buying, Taher said.
The all-share index of the Amman Stock Exchange gained 1.17 percent last week, closing at 2,334 points, according to the ASE weekly report.
Kuwaiti shares also closed in the green last week due to improving demand for blue chips, analysts said.
Kuwait's KSE all-share index gained 1 percent last week, to close at 6,654 points.
United Arab Emirates stocks were volatile last week mainly against the background of Dubai World debt concerns, analysts said.
The benchmarks of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges shed 1 percent and 0.2 percent on weekly basis, to close respectively at 1,512 points and 2,546 points.
Egyptian stocks were the main gainer in the Middle East last week due to what analysts described as stronger local and foreign demand.
Egypt's AGX30 index, which measures the performance of the market's 30 most active stocks, climbed 4.8 percent last week, closing at 6,317 points.
The GulfBase GCC Index increased 1.96 percent to 3,715.36 points. The value of GCC traded shares surged 10.67 percent to $4.63 billion and volume jumped 22.98 percent to 3.35 billion of shares.
