JEDDAH, 9 November 2005 — The Saudi stock market continued its relentless surge and hit another record high when trading began yesterday after a week-long holiday for Eid Al-Fitr.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) seemed to head for another milestone of 16,000 as it closed yesterday at an all-time high of 15,848.94, up 232.29 points or 1.49 percent from Oct. 31 closing. The market was closed from Nov. 1 until Monday.

Abdul Mohsen Al-Huwaidi, an investor in the market, said the one week Eid holiday was a good opportunity for dealers to cool down their tempers and relax and join the fray again with new vigor to make profitable deals.

The index gained over 850 points in last four trading days.

Rise in bank stocks sent the Banking index higher by 1,265.52 points to close at 38,038.16. Shares of Al-Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp. jumped by 8.92 percent to SR2,222, followed by Arab National Bank by 4.55 percent at SR1,040, the Saudi Investment Bank by 4.25 percent at SR999.75 and the Saudi British Bank by 4.22 percent at SR1,605. However, shares of Riyad Bank and Bank Albilad dropped slightly at SR790 and SR874, respectively.

The Industrial index edged higher by 260.89 points to close yesterday at 40,400.12 as shares of bellwether Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) rose to SR1,602. Sahara Petrochemical’s shares also jumped 10 percent to close at SR566.50.

The Telecom index was higher by 39.85 points at 5,623.14 as shares of Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) and Etihad Etisalat edged higher at SR913 and SR718, respectively.

The Electricity index was down as Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) shares dropped 0.89 percent to close at SR138.50.

In the cement sector, shares of Yamamah Cement and Southern Cement fell while shares of other companies rose.

Shares of Saudi Fisheries fell slightly to SR385 while shares of other companies increased as the Agriculture index gained over 63 points at 5,356.21.

Out of 77 shares traded 77 were higher while 20 were down. The value of the shares traded crossed SR19 billion yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Kuwait-based Global Investment House (Global) announced on Monday that it obtained the conditional approvals to lead manage listing of Iraq Holding Company (IHC) and Al-Tameer Real Estate Investment Company in the Kuwait Stock Market (KSE).

Omar Mahmoud El-Quqa, exeutive vice president at Global, said that Global will lead manage the private placement for IHC and Al-Tammer to increase the number of their shareholders in accordance to KSE’s conditional listing approvals. “As of Monday (Nov. 7) until Monday (Nov. 14), Global will accept private placement requests for IHC and Al-Tameer,” he added, pointing that he expects a high demand on both companies. He explained that 120 million of IHC shares at a value of 35 fils per share and 40 million shares at 230 fils per share for Al-Tameer will be offered for placement to help increase the number of shareholders.

El-Quqa affirmed Global role in encouraging companies to get listed, which is inline with its strategic business aim to boost the capital markets size and activity in Kuwait and the region. He noted that to date, Global has helped list 13 companies on KSE amounting with a total market capitalization of 2.2 billion dinars. He mentioned that the expected listing date for IHC and Al-Tameer on KSE would be before the end of 2005.