JEDDAH, 18 June 2005 — Most of Arab stock markets ended week with all-time highs as analysts expected bourses to extend gains in the coming few weeks, drawing fresh momentum from early leaks of strong performance in the year’s second quarter and surging oil prices.
The Saudi stock market continued to rise for the second consecutive week as the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed at an all-time high of 13,288.87 points on Thursday after maintaining at 13,000 points throughout the week. The index rose 2.3 percent for the week as the market saw intense trading in banking and industry sectors. The banking index closed on Thursday at 32,895.41, up 38.74 points from Wednesday’s closing, while Industrial index closed 150.92 points higher at 29,121.39.
Many investors bought shares of banks after they announced distribution of half early dividends. Increase in share prices of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), which dominate the market, was another factor for the index to go up.
Prices of cement companies continued to grow during the past week with the cement company index growing by 13.7 percent as it closed on Thursday at 9,521.08, up 244.24 points from Wednesday.
The Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) said the prices of cement company shares did not fall much despite the Commerce Ministry’s recent decision to license 27 new cement factories in the country.
The prices continued to grow over the past week as investors thought the ministry’s decision would not affect profits of existing firms.
The BFA expected the Saudi market “to continue to react” to the Q2 results of listed firms which it said would “determine the market’s next trend.”
In Kuwait, the KSE all-share price index shed 2.5 percent this week due to a wave of profit-taking moves and speculation that put pressure on prices. The benchmark price closed week at 8,617 points from 8,841 points last week.
The United Arab Emirates stock exchanges also hit new highs this week, with the all-share price indices of Abu Dhabi and Dubai going up by 3.5 percent and 17.2 percent and closing at 5,904.3 points and 1,061.5 points respectively.
“The surge was due to a growing desire on the part of investors to possess shares of firms that realized good profits in the first quarter of the year and are widely expected to do so in the second quarter,” said Zuhair Kiswani of the Sharhan Brokerage Center.
Egypt’s Hermes all-share price index climbed 5.8 percent this week, closing at 39,802 points compared to last week’s close at 37,586.48 points.
“We believe regional markets are heading to a new round of strong gains, buoyed by semi-annual results, high liquidity and rising oil prices,” Saqr Abdul Fattah, investment manager at the Housing Bank for Trade and Finance in Amman told Arab News yesterday.
As for the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE), Abdul Fattah said that investment funds and real estate firms were expected to score “exceptional gains” in the coming weeks.
The ASE all-share price index gained 2.54 percent in the week ending Thursday, to close at a record high of 7,202.72 points, according to the market’s weekly report.
— Additional input from Abdul Jalil Mustafa