JEDDAH, 17 July 2006 — The Saudi stock market continued its plunge yesterday. After falling over nine percent on Saturday, the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) dropped another 2.92 percent to close at 10,443.26, down 314.35 points.

Out of 81 stocks traded, six were higher while shares of 73 companies declined yesterday. The stock market turnover, however, increased to SR19 billion compared to SR6 billion on Saturday.

All the sector indexes were down yesterday. The Banking index fell 563.89 points to 29,691.05 and the Industrial index was lower by 766.62 points to 22,335.48.

In the banking sector, shares of Samba Financial Group jumped 4.27 percent to SR152.50 and the Saudi Investment Bank by 1.65 percent to SR106.25. Saudi Hollandi Bank’s shares increased slightly to SR85 yesterday. In the cement sector, shares of Saudi Cement rose 1.04 percent to SR97.50. The other two companies which gained yesterday were Jarir and Adrees.

Shares of Saudi Ceramic Co., Saudi Industrial Services Co., Nama Chemicals, Assir and Thim’ar plummeted 10 percent each yesterday. Shares of Saudi basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) fell to SR141 and Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) to SR18.

In the telecom sector, shares of Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) and Etihad Etisalat dropped to SR98 and SR67, respectively.

Middle Eastern stock markets also tumbled yesterday as investors worried that escalating violence in Israel and Lebanon could trigger a wider regional conflict.

Egypt’s exchange suspended trading after the benchmark index plummeted 9.5 percent to an 11-month low while Qatar’s main index closed 6.08 percent down, its sharpest one-day decline on record.

Egypt’s index slumping early on to its lowest level since August 2005. After a brief suspension, the market recovered some losses and closed 4.8 percent lower at 43,309.48 points. Investment bank EFG-Hermes, which has a 23 percent stake in Lebanon’s Banque Audi, dropped 16.7 percent to 26 Egyptian pounds.

Qatar’s 6.08-percent decline was the sharpest since the stock market widened the band in which the index could move in a single day to 10 percent from 5 percent.

Qatar Shipping, seen as particularly vulnerable to any regional conflict, dropped almost the maximum 10 percent allowed in a day. Dubai touched a new 19-month low yesterday. Dubai’s main index closed 0.03 percent down even though second-quarter earnings of the market’s largest company, Emaar Properties, easily beat forecasts, something that would normally have sparked a major rally.

Emaar, which announced its results after the market closed on Saturday, ended just 0.44 percent up at 11.35 dirhams.

Emaar shares are trading around nine times 2006 earnings, according to Reuters data, having lost about half their value this year as markets tumbled across the region. Among Gulf markets, only Kuwait ended in the black, regaining some ground from Saturday when it suffered its heaviest losses since a region-wide crash early this year.

Jordan’s main index dropped 4.11 percent while Lebanon’s benchmark fell 3.14 percent. For the most part, investors ignored fundamentals.

— With input from Reuters