JEDDAH/AMMAN, 10 November 2007 — Saudi stocks kept up their strong performance for the third week in a row last week, apparently propelled by rising crude prices and third quarter corporate profits.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) climbed 5.07 percent last week, closing at 9,058.59 points from 8,621.45 points the previous week.

The Riyadh-based Bakheet Investment Group (BIG) said in its weekly report that the index broke the 9,000 points hurdle as the highest record for the past 12 months, gaining 18 percent since Oct. 6.

So far the index is 14.2 percent higher than year’s start.

The BIG said: “The positive performance witnessed by the Saudi stock market during the last period and the return of trading values exhilaration, we expect, all that will strengthen the investors’ confidence and it will become a main cause to replace the zigzag trends by a steady one in the next coming period.”

The market received momentum particularly from the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), the petrochemical firm, Saudi Kayan Petrochemicals Co. and the banking sector, the BIG said.

The report said SABIC gain added positive support to the market, as it continued rising for the 3rd week driven by the affirmative strong reports about the future of this blue chip company and sub-companies like Saudi Kayan, both recorded high increase last week by 6 percent and 20 percent, respectively, and holds 15 percent of the total market trading value. Banking sector also surged by 8 percent last week, giving the market more support in its increase. Even though, the financial results for Saudi banks in the third quarter were modest, the positive outlook and the feasible current P/E as well as their market cap (banking sector holds 30 percent of the total market cap), gave this sector attractiveness for the investors to justify its current surge.

Shares of Allied Cooperative Insurance Group jumped by 32.74 percent to SR111.50 and Saudi Arabian Cooperative Insurance Co. by 22.60 percent to SR99.

In the banking sector, shares of SABB increased by 13.9 percent to SR123 and Samba Financial Group by 10.08 percent to SR142.

Tabuk Agriculture Development Co. shares dropped by 10.38 percent to SR64.75, the Mediterranean & Gulf Insurance & Reinsurance Co. by 7.69 percent to SR48, Arabian Shield for Cooperative Insurance by 6.78 percent to SR55, Sanad Insurance & Reinsurance Cooperative Co. by 5.13 percent to SR55.50 and Saudi Land Transport Co. by 5.11 percent to SR41.75.

The stock market turnover was over SR44 billion last week.

The Arab stock markets showed mixed performance last week and financial analysts said yesterday they expected regional bourses to be volatile for the coming few weeks as investors await the annual results of listed firms.

“I think markets will show a certain degree of volatility in the coming weeks as investors monitor annual results and political developments in the region,” Amman-based analyst Wajdi Makhamreh told Arab News.

“However, the surging oil prices and the huge surplus petrodollars due to accrue to oil-rich countries in the region are expected to provide fuel for stock market players in the coming months,” he said.

Jordanian shares showed a slowdown in performance last week led by the heavyweight Arab Bank after four weeks of continuous rally, which Makhamreh and other analysts attributed to the advent of foreign funds, particularly from the Gulf region.

The all-share prince index of the Amman Stock Exchange gained 0.475 to close at 6,757 points from 6,725 points, according to the ASE weekly report.

Kuwaiti shares lost further ground last week under the pressure of profit-taking moves and the recent political developments in the country, including the resignation of the oil and finance ministers.

Kuwait’s KSE all-share price index lost 2.0 percent last week, closing at 12,606 points compared with previous week’s close at 12,863 points. United Arab Emirates shares witnessed a downward correction move for the second week in a row last week after a rally that lasted for several weeks.

The all-share price index of the UAE stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi shed 1.6 percent, to close at 5,528 points from 5,620 points previous week.

Qatar’s all-share price index fell 0.66 percent, closing at 9,624 points on Thursday.

Egypt’s CASE 30 index, which measures the performance of 30 leading stocks, shed 1.3 percent on Thursday to close at 9,177 points under the pressure of sell-off by foreign investors, analysts said.

The GulfBase GCC Index was higher by 0.69 percent to 6,233.03 last week. The value of GCC traded shares surged by 11.86 percent to $29.14 billion and volume increased by 32.34 percent to 16.79 billion shares.

BMG Saudi Index Keeps Upward March

The BMG Saudi Index performed positively last week, advancing by 25 points, equivalent to 5.3 percent of its close previous week, to end Wednesday’s session at 494.8 points, achieving a record not attainable since Oct. 31, 2006. The total value of the transactions dealt during the week amounted to SR17.5 billion ($4.69 billion), down by 5.4 percent from last week’s turnover. The average P/E ratio for 2006 earnings was 28.6 times, and price to book ratio was 4.8 times.

The agricultural and industrial sectors were the only positive movers, while the insurance sector and the services sector lost points. The industrial sector moved ahead by 6.3 percent, and the agricultural sector strengthened by 0.8 percent, while the services sector lost 0.3 points, and the insurance sector plunged by 4.3 percent.

In terms of ratio of each sector’s turnover to the index’s turnover, the industrial sector topped the list with 53.3 percent of the overall index’s turnover. The services sector followed, with 19.8 percent, then the agricultural sector by 16.6 percent, and came last the insurance, which attained 10.2 percent of the total value of investments in the shares of the BMG Saudi Index.

As for the “beta coefficient” for each sector, the agricultural sector recorded the highest beta of 1.62, and came in second the service sector at 0.99, and then the insurance and the industrial sector with 0.99 and 0.32 beta coefficients, respectively.

Last week witnessed a decline in 14 shares, while 12 shares increased and only 4 shares witnessed no change from their previous week’s close.