JEDDAH, 1 April 2006 — The Saudi stock market made hefty gains last week. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) gained 1,165.23 points or 7.33 percent to end the trading at 17,060.34 compared to 15,895.11 points a week-earlier.

The market turnover for last week was SR50.42 billion. The recent announcements by the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) on share-splitting and increasing the fluctuation band from 5 percent to 10 percent gave a major boost to the market.

The Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) shares were most active by value in last week trading at SR6.94 billion, followed by Al-Rajhi Bank by SR6.46 billion, Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) by SR5.46 billion and Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) by SR3.21 billion.

However, when it comes to volume, SEC topped with 25,427,758. In the banking sector, shares of Saudi Hollandi Bank were the only to drop in last week’s trading while shares of all other banks rose sharply.

Commenting on the CMA’s decision on stock-split, Habib Faris, vice president of Clariden, told Arab News: “The reason for the stock split is not to dilute the market value of the stock but to allow small investors to participate in the market at an affordable price.”

“Consequently you expect to have more participants in the market hence more demand leading to a gradual growth in the stock market,” Faris added.

Riyad Bank shares went up 10.18 percent to close at SR628. Riyad Bank announced plans to sell a five-year dollar floating rate note.

The international ranking of Riyad Bank’s financial instruments increased this week after the announcement yesterday of Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services that it assigned its ‘A/A-1’ long- and short-term senior unsecured debt ratings to the $1.6 billion euro MTN program of Riyad Bank (A/Stable/A-1). At the same time, Standard & Poor’s assigned its ‘A’ long-term senior unsecured debt rating to the US dollar-denominated five-year floating rate notes (FRNs) to be issued under the program. “The ratings on the EMTN and the FRNs reflect the ratings on Riyad Bank,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Emmanuel Volland.

The ratings on the bank reflect its strong market position in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (foreign currency A/Positive/A-1, local currency A+/Stable/A-1), improved financial performance, and robust balance sheet. Also factored into the ratings on the bank is a one-notch uplift reflecting our belief that the Saudi government would likely provide extraordinary assistance to Riyad Bank and other systemically important banks if needed.

The ratings are constrained by Riyad Bank’s geographic business concentration in an economy highly reliant on oil prices and government spending, as well as by increasing domestic competition.