RIYADH, 16 April 2004 — Saudi stocks climbed to a new peak in record volumes in the week to Thursday, buoyed by earnings-fueled gains by blue chips, especially by banks.

The all-share index of the largest Arab bourse closed at 5,459.57 points, up 3.1 percent from a week earlier. It is up 23 percent this year after rising 76 percent in 2003.

Strong oil revenues have been a boon for the economy of the world’s biggest crude exporter, helping corporate earnings and boosting investor liquidity in a yearlong rally. Turnover hit an all-time weekly high of SR42.5 billion ($11.3 billion), up from last week’s SR32.2 billion, itself a record at the time.

Al-Rajhi Banking and Investment Corp., the largest listed bank, added 4.4 percent to SR1,118 after posting 40 percent higher first-quarter net profits of SR625 million.

Samba Financial Group rose 3.3 percent to SR498 after its net profits grew 21 percent to SR581 million. Sole telecoms provider STC gained 2.8 percent to SR510 riyals, while industrial giant SABIC closed 1.6 percent higher at SR468.

All but five of the bourse’s 71 stocks gained in the week.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s HFI index was up 4.4 percent on the week, closing at 15,306.61 points, the highest level since 1999 and only eight percent lower than its high of 16,531 points on February 24, 1997.

Good first quarter results also pushed up Oman’s MSM, Qatar’s DSM and Kuwait’s KSE indices by 2.1 percent, 1.8 percent and 1.4 percent respectively to 302.35 points, 5,735.88 points and 5,246.70 points.

But Jordan’s ASE index dipped by 1.6 percent on the week on fears the instability in neighboring Iraq might take its toll on local business growth. It closed at 2,705.8 points.

The region’s remaining markets — Bahrain, Iran, Lebanon and those of the Palestinians and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — saw fluctuations of less than one percent either way.

Bahrain’s BSE index closed at 2,368.51 points, Iran’s TEPIX at 11,734.71 points, Lebanon’s BSI at 482.33 points, the Palestinians’ al-Quds at 182.05 points and the UAE’s NBAD index at 4,991.46 points.