JEDDAH, 1 November 2005 — Saudi stocks continued to surge for a third consecutive day and reached new highs yesterday as the Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) recorded over 600 points increase since Saturday. The index edged higher by 143.21 points from Sunday’s closing to reach at 15,616.65. The index closed on last Thursday at 14,998.86 points.

Petrochemical shares were soaring since Kingdom got approval to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Shares of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. jumped over two percent to close yesterday at SR1,593.25 and Sahara Petrochemical shares by 5.53 percent at SR515. SAFCO shares also gained 4.76 percent to close at SR1,398.

In the Cement sector, shares of Southern Cement soared 4.97 percent at SR781.

The Saudi British Bank (SABB) shares edged higher by 1.85 percent at SR1,540.

However, shares of Bank AlJazira and Saudi Hollandi Bank fell slightly.

Out of 77 stocks traded yesterday, 30 were higher while 46 shares fell. The value of shares changed hands in yesterday’s final morning session, before Eid Al-Fitr holiday, crossed SR8.6 billion. The market will reopen on Nov. 8.

Shares of Saudi Livestock plunged 5.72 percent at SR86.50, followed by Eastern Agriculture by over 5 percent at SR376 and Shams by 3.16 percent at SR306.25.

The Industrial and Banking indices were higher by 722.95 points at 40,139.23 and 321.32 points at 36,772.64, respectively.

The Service, Electricity, Telecom, Insurance and Agriculture indices were lower yesterday. Saudi Telecom Co. shares dropped slightly at SR912, while Etihad Etisalat shares gained at SR696.50.

A number of Saudi investors have expressed their concern over certain illegal practices in the bourse, including leakage of vital information, and called for stiff punishment to prevent them.

Walid Al-Shadoukhi, one investor, said some people were using the Internet to spread rumors and leak information in make gains from increasing prices of stocks.

“Leaking information to a few number of investors is illegal,” he said, adding that it would lead to raising prices of certain stocks without any genuine reason. He urged the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to put an end to this phenomenon.

Abdullah Al-Ajami, another dealer, said information affecting stock prices must be made available to all investors. Othman Al-Othaim, a member of the Saudi Economic Society, said the CMA must take action against those who leak vital market information.

Meanwhile, the Founders Committee of Dana Gas, the first regional private sector natural gas company to offer shares to the public, has approved the final results of share allocation and refund within 21 days of its highly successful initial public offering (IPO) which closed on Oct. 3. The receiving banks have arranged to send by registered post the share allotment letter along with the bankers draft checks for the refund amount or credited the refund amount into the bank account of the subscriber.

The final IPO results have also been confirmed, with a total of 425,382 subscriptions received from some 100 nationalities. For the 700 million dirhams retail tranche, 410,636 applications were received from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals and as per the stated allocation policy, an allotment of 1,704 shares has been declared for each subscriber. The 1.27 billion dirhams wholesale tranche was oversubscribed 222 times by individual and institutional investors of all nationalities and as per the stated allocation policy, an allocation per subscription of 0.4506 percent has been declared.

The company aims to list its shares on the Abu Dhabi Stock Market (ADSM) as soon as possible after the finalization of the incorporation procedures and prior to the end of this year, with subsequent listings planned in the future on other exchanges in the region.