RIYADH, 3 August 2005 — Several businesswomen and small investors in the Saudi capital market have criticized the Capital Market Authority (CMA) for not immediately stopping all trade in the market following the death of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, an action which caused confusion in the market yesterday.

The businesswomen also said that they hoped CMA would ban any trade in the market for the next three days at least out of respect to the late King Fahd and so there would not be any sudden turbulence in the market due to the confusion of small investors.

“CMA made a big mistake by not announcing the closure of trade in the Saudi market on its website,” said Nawal Al-Jihani, a specialist in the Saudi stock market and an economic analyst. She said that she and other female traders in the market knew about the closure of the market from sources other than CMA’s main website, like local banks. “Some investors do not even know till this moment if trade in the Saudi market has been stopped or is continuing as normal,” she added.

Al-Jihani said CMA should stop trade in the market for the next couple of days, “because we Saudis are not a materialistic nation to that extent.”

Al-Jihani did not expect a nosedive in the market due to the announcement of King Fahd’s death, saying she expected the expenditure rate to not go below 12,800 points. She also warned small investors from hastily trading in the market when it reopens next week.

She categorized the market into two segments: Experienced traders and those who are aware of the market. “These people are experienced and know how to react in such a situation,” she said. The other category, she said, are the small investors, or non-experienced traders.

Al-Jihani described the trading rooms in many of the ladies branches yesterday as “empty”, but added that despite that, trade continued on as usual via the Internet and by phone.

Trade was stopped on the main website of Tadawul yesterday shortly after it was announced on national television that King Fahd had passed away. However, it was resumed shortly afterward causing much confusion among investors.

Many small investors, especially those who are overseas on vacation, did not know how to react to the story of the king’s death, as they were eagerly asking one another what to do in the absence of a public announcement from the Capital Market Authority.

Dozens of female traders sold their shares yesterday for little value fearing the market would collapse only to realize later that the shares in the companies they sold quickly rose after a short period of time.

Bothayna, a Saudi female broker in the stock market, said that she did not know trade resumed yesterday in the market after it was first stopped.

“I tried selling some shares via the Internet but was not successful in doing so. I then logged on to the website of Tadawul but could not find any useful information regarding how long trade in the market would be stopped,” she said.

“I’m glad I thought trade was not going to be resumed. Because had I known CMA had decided to resume trade in the market I would have ended up selling a lot of shares for a lesser price and would have lost a bundle of money like my other female friends did,” she said.