JEDDAH/AMMAN, 8 December 2007 — Saudi shares scored fresh gains last week pushing the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) to a record high this year of 9,900 points on Wednesday, buoyed by blue chips particularly the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), which gained over 8 percent last week. SABIC shares closed 8.33 percent higher at SR172.25.
Economists expected that the index would cross the 10,000-barrier today, given the market’s upward trend over the past few weeks. “According to the results of technical analyses, the market is qualified to break the 10,000 barrier and reach 10,500 points with the support of investment liquidity,” one analyst said.
Last week saw all sectors, except agriculture, making gains in the market when the index made a substantial growth of 4.52 percent driven by mostly the industrial sector.
TASI closed week at 9,892.02 points last week, up by 4.52 percent from previous week’s close at 9,464.40 points. TASI is currently 24.7 percent higher than the year’s start.
The Riyadh-based Bakheet Investment Group (BIG) said in its weekly report that Al-Rajhi Bank recovered some of its losses in the previous week and increased by 2.40 percent last week to SR106.50. Also, Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) gained 3.57 percent last week and holding over 3 percent of the total market trading value. SEC has increased by 26 percent in the recent upward trend since Oct. 6. SEC shares closed Wednesday at SR14.50.
“Bakheet Saudi Large Cap Index” ended the week with a 3 percent increase. On the other hand, speculative stocks witnessed a relatively steady move where “Bakheet Saudi Small-Cap Index,” which composed of 20 smallest companies in the market, held 14 percent of total market trading value compared with 19 percent for the previous week, ending this week’s performance without noticeable change.
Jabal Omar Development Co. was listed and started trading within the service sector, reaching a 70 percent increase and holding 30 percent of the market trading in the first trading day on Dec. 1. Jabal Omar shares gained 142.50 percent to SR24.25 last week.
The Capital Market Authority (CMA) also announced that Middle East Specialized Cables Company will be listed today, and Al-Khaleej Training and Education Company on Monday.
The BIG report expected the market to be “rather steady” in the coming weeks with the approaching announcement of the annual results and the Saudi public budget. “This should give investors more time for reallocating their portfolios before the end of the year,” the report said.
In the insurance sector, shares of Malath Cooperative Insurance and Reinsurance Co. jumped by 25.18 percent to SR174 and Al-Ahlia Insurance Company for Cooperative Insurance by 12.06 percent to SR127.75 last week.
The stock market turnover increased to SR56.62 billion last week compared to SR49 billion in the previous week.
According to the BIG report, Jabal Omar dominated trading value at 13 percent last week followed by Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. at 10 percent and SABIC at 4 percent.
Arab stock markets are expected to assume caution in the coming few weeks ahead of the publication of the yearly corporate results.
However, financial analysts said yesterday they expected regional stocks to score fresh gains in the new year, given the launching of the Gulf Cooperation Council common market soaring oil prices and the huge surplus petrodollars due to accrue to Arab oil-producing countries.
“I believe investors will prefer to take wait-and-see attitudes in the coming three weeks before the year end pending the release of the annual results of listed firms,” Amman-based analyst Wajdi Makhamreh told Arab News.
“However, there are sound reasons to believe that Arab shares stand a good chance to flourish in the new year, propelled by the announcement of the GCC countries about the launching of the Common Gulf Market as of Jan. 1, the skyrocketing oil prices and the huge surplus petrodollars expected to be reaped by oil-producing countries,” he said.
However, Makhamreh warned that geopolitics, including the aftermath of the Annapolis Middle East peace conference and the offshoots of the Iranian nuclear crises “would have their impact on the performance of regional bourses”.
Jordanian shares continued their strong performance last week, led by the heavyweight Arab Bank and the strategic shares of the Arab Potash Co., the Jordan Phosphate Mines Co. and the Jordan Petroleum Refinery.
The all-share price index of the Amman Stock Exchange gained 2.48 percent last week, closing at 7,158 points, up from 6,984 points previous week, according to the ASE weekly report.
Kuwait’s KSE all-share price index closed week on Thursday at 12,113 points up from 11,981 points last week when Kuwaiti shares plunged reportedly under selling pressures from key funds.
The all-share price index of the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi gained 4.2 percent last week, closing at 5,690 points compared with previous week’s close at 5,461 points. The GulfBase GCC Index also increased 3.51 percent to 6,511.42 and value of traded shares surged 7.50 percent to $22.08 billion but volume dropped by 8.07 percent to 5.84 billion.