JEDDAH, 16 April 2005 — The Saudi stock market declined on Thursday, the last day of the week, by 0.92 percent or 107.9 points as the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed at 11,655.42 points. The index closed last week at an all-time high of 11,694.84 points.

Share prices of 11 companies went up while 55 of 74 companies listed on the bourse went down.

The market saw the exchange of 12.8 million shares worth more than SR5 billion through 39,277 deals. The decline came when traders changed their mind after hearing reports of first quarter profits of certain companies, most importantly Saudi Telecom, which posted a net profit of SR3.011 billion. The amount was 20 percent higher than the profit STC made during the same period last year.

The Saudi stock market witnessed strong volatility this week after hitting a new historical high on Saturday. “Since then the market was the scene of a strong retreat due to the announcement of disappointing Q1 results by some industrial firms, particularly the Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) and the Saudi Arabian Fertilizers Co. (SAFCO),” according to the weekly report of the Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA). It advised investors to be on their guard in the coming few weeks as “the market trend is yet unclear until the full announcement of Q1 2005 results.”

The TASI index closed on Wednesday at 11,763.36 points.

Meanwhile, Arab stock markets scored strong gains over the past few weeks, propelled by expectations of first quarter results and soaring oil prices, but “deep downward corrections” could occur toward the end of April, analysts said yesterday.

“We are still upbeat over the performance of regional bourses, but deep corrections could occur toward the end of April after many of the stocks have become overvalued,” Amer Muasher, head of brokerage at the Jordan National Bank, told Arab News.

“We feel such corrections are natural in May after all Q1 results are out and investors lack fresh incentives,” he said.

However, Muasher and other analysts predicted that regional stocks were still “potentially bullish” due the existence of high liquidity seeking investments, soaring oil prices and improving political circumstances in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

The Amman Stock Exchange continued its upward trend this week, buoyed by first quarter results particularly those of the banking sector, led by the Arab Bank, and other blue chip firms.

The ASE all-share price index climbed 5.1 percent in the week ending Thursday, closing at 5,908 points from 5,621 points last week, according to the market’s weekly report.

In Kuwait, the KSE all-share price index gained 3.2 percent this week, to close at a new all-time high of 8,372.5 percent, compared with last week’s close at 8,114.5 percent.

Average daily trading this week dropped by 13 percent to 141.9 million dinars ($481 million) from last week’s 163.6 million dinars ($555 million). Last year’s daily average was $208.8 million. The KSE has a capitalization of more than $97 billion with 132 Kuwaiti and foreign firms.

Shares on the Dubai stock exchange surged almost 15 percent in the past week.

The Dubai bourse index closed at a record 718.26 points on Thursday, an increase of 14.9 percent for the week and 64 percent since the start of the year.

The sharp rise sparked fears that Dubai and its sister bourse Abu Dhabi, which had soared by 74 percent so far this year, may be witnessing a bubble.

The Abu Dhabi market rose 3.8 percent to 5,333.0 in the week ending Thursday, an increase of 74 percent for the year, as UAE telecoms monopoly Etisalat said first quarter profits were up 24 percent to one billion dirhams.

Egyptian shares also rebounded this week. The Hermes all-share price index shed 1.2 percent and closed at 35,172,9 points from 35,603.2 points last week. — With input from Abdul Jalil Mustafa