JEDDAH, 26 November 2005 — Saudi Stocks soared to an all-time high last week. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) gained 1.5 percent last week, closing on Thursday at a record high of 16,337.31 points, up 242.56 points from 16,094.75 previous week. The TASI is currently higher by 99.08 percent so far this year.

According to Dr. Hamad Al-Tuwaijeri, head of the department of economics at King Saud University, there are five factors that play a big role in moving the Saudi index up and down. They are: Oil prices, national revenues, liquidity, interest rates and inflation rate.

Addressing the Saudi Stock Market conference in Riyadh recently, he said apart from growing oil prices, the increasing confidence in the market had played a major role in taking Saudi index to record levels. He said that during the last 20 years, the market grew by 2,230 percent.

The Riyadh-base Bakheet Financial Advisors expected the market index to reach “new records” before the announcement of the fourth quarter results. “As the year-end approaches, investors are awaiting the announcement of the Saudi government budget that is expected to show a huge surplus... This is expected to result in inflated stock prices,” the BFA said.

As for the top 10 blue chips, the highest gains were scored by Al-Rajhi Banking and Investment Corp. and Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF), which advanced by 12.9 percent and 4.6 percent respectively, the BFA said.

The Al-Rajhi Bank shares closed on Thursday at SR2,659.75 and BSF shares at SR1,480. Shares of the Saudi Investment Bank and Arab National Bank declined on Thursday at SR1,080 and SR1,038.75, respectively.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. shares made hefty gains of 3.72 percent on Thursday at SR1,591.

Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries & Medical Appliances Corp. shares jumped 3.93 percent to close on Thursday at SR794.

Shares of Saudi Telecom Co. and Etihad Etisalat also declined on Thursday.

Kuwait’s KSE all-share price index shed 0.8 percent last week, closing at 11,680 points, down from 11.778 points previous week.

Meanwhile, Arab stock markets showed mixed performance last week, but analysts said yesterday they believed regional bourses were heading toward “fresh gains” by end of the year, propelled by promising results in the first three quarters of the year and first reports of dividend distributions. “I believe stocks in the region stand to score fresh gains, given the good performance of listed firms over the past three quarters,” Amer Muasher, head of brokerage at the Jordan National Bank, told Arab News. “We are going to see gradual rises in prices as we approach the end of the year and with investors starting to monitor the dividend distributions,” he said.

Muasher pointed out that Jordanian shares “so far managed to surmount the ordeal of Nov. 9 bombings”. “I think the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) will witness new record levels as the year draws to an end,” he said.

The ASE all-share price index edged lower last week, closing on Thursday at 9,218 points, compared to previous week’s close at 9,241 points, according to the market’s weekly report.

Portfolio managers attributed the slight decline to a “profit-taking move” that prevailed during the first three days of the week.

Muasher said that increasing that capital of several firms and the establishment of new companies “will have a short-lived effect on the market in view of the abundant liquidity available at present”.