RIYADH, 28 May 2004 — Saudi Arabian shares tumbled 15.2 percent in the week to Thursday, traders said.

The index fell 4.39 percent yesterday to end the week at 5,114.05 points, down 15.2 percent from 6,031.82 a week ago. The Arab world’s biggest exchange is still up 15.2 percent this year but down from a life high of 6,455.62 hit on May 18.

Turnover during the week fell to SR29.9 billion ($7.97 billion) from SR65.2 billion in the previous week.

“There were two waves of big sell-offs on margin calls and banks saying they would not give leverage for 28 firms under a new capital markets law,” said Joe Kawkabani, analyst at Dubai-based Shuaa Capital.

The capital markets law, yet to be implemented, is expected to suspend firms that do not comply with reporting regulations.

Kawkabani said he expected the bourse to rebound because share prices were attractive and the market was also technically good.

There were no gainers this week, Bahkeet Financial Advisors (BFA) said. Small-cap agriculture firms declined sharply, with Qassim Agricultural down 42.7 percent at 59.50 riyals.

Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC), which accounts for 12 percent of market capitalization, fell 37 percent to SR101.25 compared with a year high of SR196.00 earlier this month. SEC was the most active share with 26.9 percent of turnover.

“In addition to SEC, the sharp decline of ‘speculative stocks’ after their recent strong but unjustified ascent for the past months contributed to the fall,” BFA said.

Meanwhile, in Kuwait, the KSE index closed at 5,239.90 points, up 2.4 percent on the week. In Muscat, the MSM index closed at 321.08 points, up 1.8 percent on the week. The Palestinian stock market’s Al-Quds index closed at 174.47 points, up one percent on the week.

Lebanon’s BSI index shed 0.9 percent on the week to close at 542.98 points, Egypt’s HFI’s index lost 0.5 percent to 14,509.64 points and Iran’s TSE gained 0.5 percent to 11,569.80 points.

Qatar’s CBQ index gained 0.4 percent on the week to close at 999.28 points, the United Arab Emirates’ NBAD index shed 0.3 percent to 5,006.3 points, Jordan’s ASE index lost 0.2 percent to 2,725.5 points while Bahrain’s BSE was almost unchanged at 2,490.65 points.