JEDDAH, 7 August 2004 — The National Commercial Bank (NCB) has finally returned to work at the stock exchange unit at the South Buraida branch after completing renovation work. Jawdat Al-Halabi, manager of private services at the bank, described the move as part of the bank’s efforts toward continuous improvement with the aim of providing better service to clients of the Saudi market, which has seen a noticeable increase since mid-2003.

Al-Halabi also indicated that the Saudi stock index increased since the start of the current year by over 39 percent after rising 76 percent in 2003, as did the trade records by 40 percent during the mid year of 2004.

Al-Halabi explained that the big increase was due to a number of factors such as improvement of the overall economic state of the Kingdom, supported by rising oil prices, and the continuous drop in interest rates. He was also optimistic about the market’s performance for the coming period. “Due to the rise in corporate profitability, the net income of 53 companies for the first half of this year increased to SR20 billion, up 43 percent from the same period of 2003.

Saleem Ajeena, manager of NCB’s domestic stocks, clarified that the bank was now developing its domestic stock services at several of the Kingdom’s branches. “At present, the bank is developing its exchange system via NCB’s banking telecommunications, with a complete program to improve the existing services for its clients,” he added.

Muhammad Al-Debaykhi, head of the NCB’s South Buraida branch, said that the area of the branch’s exchange unit grew to 140 m2 as did the unit capacity, which increased from 20 tradesmen to 45. Subsequently two more plasma screens were added, making the total three screens.

“A number of stock market patrons affirmed the bank’s positive response to their suggestions and comments on the stock exchange. They were also appreciative of the bank’s efforts to develop the units that enabled speedier transactions, benefiting from the fast price changes which result in better profit returns,” he said.