JEDDAH: After falling 3.11 percent last week, Saudi Arabia’s stock market rose yesterday as Tadawul began naming investors holding stakes of 5 percent or more in order to boost transparency on the largest Arab bourse.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) surged 1.75 percent to close at 8,331.63 points as investors snapped up shares they judged were cheap relative to earnings expectations.

The index has risen 5.7 percent in the last four trading days, having dropped almost 9 percent in the seven sessions after market operator Tadawul said on July 30 it would name large investors at the end of each trading day from Aug. 16. The index is down 24.52 percent so far this year.

John Sfakianakis, chief economist at SABB (The Saudi British Bank), said “the market has rebounded at a time when it was anticipating more of a negative trend. Trading volume improved but we are still in the low volume summer season. Those who see value in the market have been positioning themselves over the past few trading sessions.”

Data on the bourse website showed about 60 individuals hold stakes of more than 5 percent in listed firms, including 10 investors with SR70 billion of stakes in banks.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund is the largest investor in the Saudi stock market, with holdings in 18 firms worth SR376.9 billion as per closing prices on Wednesday, data showed.

The General Organization for Social Insurance held shares in 25 firms worth SR82.2 billion, the Public Pension Agency SR15.7 billion and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) SR3.04 billion.

Commenting on the new transparency rules, Sfakianakis said “the new disclosure rules do offer greater transparency however the creation of different ‘dummy’ entities will provide room to grow and for the regulators to tackle next.”

He added “the real test for the market will be in the next two weeks when the summer vacation will be over and volume traders return,” adding that “the fundamentals of the market are strong but time will tell when fundamentals will be in the driver’s seat rather than sentiment.”

According to Falcom Newsletter of the Riyadh-based Falcom Financial Services, volume and value of traded shares increased by 24.2 percent (161.7 million shares) and 14.5 percent (SR5.3 billion) respectively. Market P/E ratio stood at 15.3 and P/BV at 2.9 yesterday.

Alujain Corporation was the top gainer yesterday as its shares jumped 9.84 percent to close at SR36.25.

Shares in Saudi Indian Company for Cooperative Insurance dropped 4 percent to SR66.

Almarai Co. shares also rose 4.27 percent to SR176.75 after the dairy company announced that it has signed a non binding memorandum of understanding on Thursday regarding the acquisition of 100 percent of the International Company for Agro Industrial Projects (Beyti) in Egypt. Beyti is a producer and distributor for a wide variety of dairy products in Egypt.

Saudi Cable Company shares advanced by 5.97 percent to SR71 yesterday as Waheeb A. Linjawi, group president & managing director, announced that the company has been able to secure a higher option to buy a 79 percent controlling stake in Elimsan Group of Turkey.

“This will give Saudi Cable Company Group the right to expand its facilities and enhance its production capacity whether inside or outside Turkey, the Middle East and particularly in the Gulf countries in view of the promising markets in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) for the diversified and complementary products of the tow companies,” Linjawi said in a statement on Tadawul website.

Meanwhile, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said the listing and trading of Astra Industrial Group will begin tomorrow within the Industrial Investments Sector with an unrestricted price limit for the first day of trading only.

Tadawul also announced yesterday that trading hours during Ramadan would be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

— With input from agencies