JEDDAH, 7 December 2005 — The Saudi stock market continued its relentless surge yesterday. Over 1,000 points increase in the Industrial index sent the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) soaring by 178.05 points, or 1.07 percent, to an all-time high of 16,758.87. The index seems to be heading to touch another milestone of 17,000 points in a couple of weeks.
The TASI index is higher by 419.29 points in last four days and 8,552.64 or 104.22 percent, so far this year.
The Industrial index was up by 1,111.30 points at 43,359.40 as shares of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) jumped by 3.81 percent to close at SR1,743. Shares of Saudi Industrial Development Co. rose 3.34 percent at SR348.25. However, shares of Al-Ahsa Development Co. plunged by 3.44 percent at SR379.50 and Sahara Petrochemical by 0.86 percent at SR608.75.
The Banking index dropped by 282.05 at 41,251.84 as shares of all major banks declined except Bank Albilad. Its shares gained 1.16 percent at SR916.50. Saudi Hollandi Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi shares fell by 2.74 and 2.30 percent, respectively.
The Cement index was down as shares of all companies were in the red yesterday.
Saudi Telecom Company (STC) shares edged higher by 2.02 percent at SR908 as it announced in Riyadh on Monday that it will be partnering with Alcatel, Cisco Systems and Lucent Technologies to create a state-of-the-art broadband network in the Kingdom.
Etihad Etisalat shares closed yesterday at SR703, up 1.59 percent.
The Insurance index was down at 1,928.08 as shares of National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI) fell 1.56 percent at SR695.
In the agriculture sector, shares of Bishah Agriculture and Tabuk Agriculture made hefty gains yesterday. However, shares of National Agriculture Development Co. dropped by 3.41 percent to close at SR560.
The value of shares traded reached SR26.83 billion yesterday
Meanwhile, the Kuwait-based Global Investment House “Global” has reopened its Increasable Guaranteed Fund to new clients until Dec. 15, 2005 in addition to raising the protection guarantee percentage on the fund capital for current investors.
Bader Abdullah Al-Sumait, executive vice president at Global, said that the decision to reopen the fund is to allow new clients to benefit from the exceptional performance the fund has recorded and the invested capital guarantee feature it offers. Global intends to increase guarantee percentage on the fund capital for existing investors based on the year’s end performance with a minimum of 110 percent. “The Increasable Guaranteed Fund is the first of its kind in the local market that combines hand picked investments in companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), and fixed income instruments,” he said. This strategy has resulted in a 16.19 percent return since its inception in April 2004 till end of October 2005.
“The guarantee for the next period will be on the unit’s value as of Dec. 31, 2005. The realized performance until end of December will be 100 percent guaranteed.” Al-Sumait added.