JEDDAH, 4 March 2007 — The Saudi stock market rebounded yesterday after falling last week. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 199.16 points or 2.44 percent higher at 8,375.53. Out of 86 companies traded, shares of only two companies — Al-Babtain Power & Telecommunication Co. and Arab Cement — were in the red. Al-Babtain shares fell 1.72 percent to SR85.50 and Arab Cement by 1.14 percent to SR87.

The stock market turnover crossed the SR17 billion mark yesterday.

According to the Tadawul report for February, which was released through their website yesterday, at the end of February TASI closed at 8,176.37 points, posting an increase of 16.12 percent compared to the previous month, and 2.6 percent on an YTD basis. The index closed at its highest level during the month at 8,385.45 on Feb. 25.

The market capitalization at the end of February reached SR1.27 trillion ($339.37 billion, increasing by 16.59 percent over the previous month.

The report said, the total value of shares traded in February reached SR260.45 billion ($69.45 billion), increasing by 42.26 percent over the previous month.

The total number of shares traded increased by 27.1 percent to reach 6 billion in February compared to 4.72 billion shares in January. The total number of transactions executed during February rose by 21.67 percent to 6.6 million compared to 5.42 million trades for the previous month.

On Feb. 3, Al Abdullatif Industrial Investment Company was listed (with a paid up capital of SR650 million divided into 65 million shares.) The company offered 19.5 million shares at SR42 per share.

During the month of February, Malath Cooperative Insurance & Reinsurance Co. (with a paid up capital of SR300 million, divided into 30 million shares), offered 14,244,465 shares that represent 47.48 percent of its issued shares, at a price of SR10 (nominal value). The subscription period extended from Feb 3 to Feb. 12.

In February, the Mediterranean & Gulf Insurance & Reinsurance Co. (with a paid up capital of SR800 million, divided into 80 million shares), offered 20 million shares that represent 25 percent of its issued shares, at a price of SR10 (nominal value). The subscription period extended from Feb. 17 to Feb. 26.

The Tadawul report also said that in February Advanced Polypropylene Co. (APPC) was added to TASI as the stock close price on Feb. 17.

The listed Saudi Investment Bank increased its paid up capital by issuing one bonus share for every 1.6 shares held, raising its total number of issued shares to 391,016,000 effective Feb. 28.

The GulfBase GCC index in February also increased by 8.73 percent to 5,067.17. According to the GulfBase GCC indices, only Bahrain and Qatar stock markets suffered a decline in February. Abu Dhabi stock market index rose 3.71 percent to 3,090.91 in February.

The total value of shares traded in all GCC markets in February jumped 35.31 percent to $80.65 billion compared to the month of January.