JEDDAH, 23 April 2006 — After falling 15.50 percent last week, the Saudi stock market started this week with a fall of 1.1 percent. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 145.27 points down at 13,116.62.

The Industrial index suffered 1,235.59 points to 27,216.40 and Telecom index dropped 164.71 points to 5,221.99, while all other indexes of various sectors increased yesterday.

In the banking sector, shares of Saudi Hollandi Bank and Samba Financial Group declined, while shares of all other banks edged higher. Shares of Arab National Bank jumped 9.83 percent to SR131.25, Riyad Bank by 3.80 percent to SR116 and the Saudi Investment Bank by 3.63 percent to SR121.25.

Shares of major companies in the industrial sector such as Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) dropped 5.29 percent to SR228.25, Savola Group by 7.61 percent to SR127.50, Nama Chemicals by 9.43 percent to SR36, National Metal Manufacturing and Casting Co. by 9.52 percent to SR42.75, Food Products Co. by 9.94 percent to SR38.50 and Saudia Dairy and Foodstuff Co. by 9.93 percent to SR34.

Shares of Filling & Packing Materials Manufacturing Co., National Gypsum Co., Saudi Industrial Development Co. and Zamil Industrial Investment Co. made hefty gains yesterday.

In the cement sector, Arabian Cement Co.’s shares jumped 10 percent to SR121 as the Kuwait-based Global Investment House (Global) said yesterday it was upgrading Arabian Cement to “buy” from “hold”.

At the current market price on the Saudi stock market, the Arabian Cement share is quoting at a discount of 59.8 percent to its intrinsic value, the Global said in its report.

Arabian Cement was the first cement company to be established in Saudi Arabia in 1956. The company produces and markets various types of cement, such as ordinary portland cement (OPC), sulphate resisting cement (SRC) and portland pozzolanic cement.

The current annual clinker capacity of the company stands at 2.4mtpy, while the cement grinding capacity is 2.5mtpy.

The company has paid-up equity capital of SR600 million.

The sales revenue of Arab Cement for the year 2005 increased by 18.7 percent to SR687.2 million from SR578.8 million in 2004.

The income/gains from the investment portfolio gave the company SR24.3 million during the year, 8.3 percent higher than SR22.5 million in the previous year. The net profit of the company increased by 8 percent in 2005 to SR330.9 million from SR306.4 million in 2004.

The EPS of the company rose to SR27.6 (SR5.5 post the recent 5:1 stock-split) during the year, from SR25.5 (SR5.1 post the stock-split) reported in 2004. The company has declared a total dividend of SR20 per share (40 percent) during the year.

Shares of Saudi Telecom Co. declined 3.69 percent to 137, while shares of Etihad Etisalat rose slightly to SR94.

The total value of traded shares reached SR11.79 billion as 44 shares were higher while 30 were down yesterday.