JEDDAH: The Saudi stock index continued its upward march and reached its highest close since Oct. 28 on Sunday as the listed companies started announcing their financial results. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 67.47 points or 1.07 percent higher at 6,393.65.

Sector activity was widely positive with 9 out of 15 sectors closing with gains ranging from 0.10 percent by the Hotel and Tourism sector to 3.50 percent by the Multi-Investment sector. The losses by the remaining sectors ranged from 0.04 percent by the Retail as well as Building & Construction sectors to 0.50 percent by the Transport sector. The market breadth remained positive with 65 advancers against 49 decliners giving an AD ratio of 1.3265, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said.

Kingdom Holding Co. continued to remain on top on Sunday with 9.85 percent gains. Its stocks closed at SR7.25.

The Banks and Financial Services sector showed mixed performance on Sunday despite posting huge profits in 2009. Riyad Bank shares jumped by 6.47 percent to SR29.60 and SABB by 5.62 percent to SR47. The losers on Sunday were Al-Rajhi Bank, Bank Albilad, Alinma Bank, Arab National Bank and Bank AlJazira.

Saudi banks have posted a total profit of SR27.3 billion in 2009 despite global financial crisis. The figure is 4.1 percent more than SR26.2 billion profit they made in 2008. Only one bank — Bank Albilad — from a total of 11 commercial banks in the country suffered losses in 2009.

The Saudi Investment Bank, Alinma, Saudi Hollandi Bank and Bank AlJazira reported losses in their fourth quarter results. Al-Rajhi Bank announced the largest profit of SR6.767 billion, followed by Samba Financial Group SR4.56 billion, National Commercial Bank (NCB) SR4.04 billion and Riyad Bank SR3.03 billion.

While talking about the performance of Saudi banks, John Sfakianakis, group general manager and chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, said the banks’ capital strength has improved, while sustained deposit inflows have boosted liquidity. “The Saudi economy looks far better this year than before and given the low interest rate environment banks will increase lending both on the retail and corporate side. Saudi Arabia’s high population growth rates, above 2.3 percent is offering substantial upside opportunities. Banks will also have to continue to demonstrate innovation within the country and offer improved services in an increasingly competitive market,” he said.

According to NCB’s weekly Market Review & Outlook released on Sunday, the financial results announced by 37 of the listed Saudi joint-stock companies were disappointing.

The collective net profit of the 37 firms declined by 15.2 percent to SR29.1 billion in 2009 financial year from SR34.2 billion reported by the same firms in 2008. Only 4 out of 37 companies showed combined losses worth SR300 million in 2009, slightly less than 1 percent of the combined results.

The earnings picture, however, will worsen if the better-than-expected outcome of the 11 listed-banks were excluded, with the remaining 26 firms registering a sharp slide of 31.3 percent in profitability to SR6.83 billion in 2009 from SR9.94 billion in 2008.

The equity market response so far has been positive with Tadawul gaining 4.44 percent so far this year.