JEDDAH, 25 February 2006 — The Saudi stock market continued to attract the limelight last week with investors reportedly withdrawing from other Gulf markets and turning to the Saudi stock exchange.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) climbed 6.1 percent on Thursday, when it closed at an all-time high of 20,624.84 points, up from 19,431.32 points last week. The index gained 1,193.52 points over the week.

On Thursday, the index surged 272.63 points in SR23.60 billion trading.

TASI is currently 23.41 percent higher than the year’s start.

According to the weekly report of the Riyadh-based Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA), the rise of the stocks was fueled two factors: first, the heavy trading on the shares of the Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC), which climbed 50.85 percent; second, the high demand for speculative stocks although these firms did not report any significantly positive news.

The report added, “This gives an indication of how much rumors affect investor behavior especially through Internet forums.”

The BFA expected Saudi stocks to remain under the pressure of a “corrective retreat” due to the overvaluation of most stocks and the efforts made by the market’s management to protect small investors and discipline price manipulators.

The Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA), the watchdog of the Saudi bourse, has blocked last week the investment accounts of two large Saudi investors who were involved in speculative trading. The first investor was manipulating the share prices of Alujain, Ardco, SAPTCO and Saudi Industrial Development Co. The second investor manipulated the share prices of Bishah Agriculture Development Co. and he spread rumors on Internet forums about the possible increase in the company’s shares.

Recently, the CMA has tightened its grip on the stock market to manage the inflation in stock prices.

The stock market turnover, however, declined to SR239.36 billion compared to SR244 billion in the previous week.

Shares of Yanbu National Petrochemical Co. (YANSAB) rose 1,034 percent in a week to close at SR567. YANSAB shares jumped 1,122 percent on debut on Monday.

Over SR14.83 billion worth of SEC shares changed hands last week, followed by Saudi Livestock SR10.38 billion, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) SR10.10 billion, YANSAB SR8.72 billion and Qassim Cement SR7.81 billion.

The Kuwait Stock Exchange was also the scene of a profit-taking move last week that pushed down the KSE all price index by 2.6 percent. The Kuwaiti market’s benchmark price closed week at 11,687 points down from previous week’s close at 11,999 points, according to the market’s weekly report.

The unified all-share price index of the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi slipped by 1.2 percent last week, closing at 5,965 points from 6,035 points previous week.

UAE analyst Mohammad Ali Yassin believed the decline was “engineered by some investors to push down prices so as to provide a buy opportunity”.

Egyptian stocks rebounded last week, recovering some of its losses over the past weeks, thanks to a rising demand that prompted the market’s management to stop trading of at least two stocks after crossing the 5-percent limit-up. The decision by the government to push ahead with the privatization policy also helped the upward momentum, analysts said.

The Hermes all-share price index climbed 6.2 percent last week, to close at 61,965 points on Thursday up from previous week’s close at 58,355 points.

Jordanian stocks remained under the pressure of a liquidity shortage last week resulting from the increase of the capitals of several leading firms and initial public offerings created by the establishment of new companies, Luai Azer, a financial analyst at the Jordan National Bank, told Arab News.

The all-share price index of the Amman Stock Exchange shed 6.71 percent last week, closing at 7,825 points down from 8,388 points previous week, according to the ASE weekly report. The sharp drop was caused mainly by a sell-off of the heavyweight Arab Bank, which plummeted 9 percent. The Arab Bank stock accounts for about 40 percent of the benchmark price.