Saudi stocks to ‘maintain positive performance’

JEDDAH/AMMAN: Saudi shares rose last week, propelled by profits scored by the banking and petrochemical sectors.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) surged 1.90 percent last week, closing at 6,382.04 points. The TASI is currently 4.3 percent higher than at the start of the year.

The Saudi market drew momentum from the outstanding performance of the banking sector, following the release of profits from leading banks in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the weekly report of the Riyadh-based Bakheet Investment Group (BIG).

The banking sector rose 4.6 percent compared to the preceding week, after the release of most banks’ financial statements last week, the BIG said.

“The Saudi market was also positively affected by the annual results of blue chip companies, particularly the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), which reported a 133 percent increase in its profits for the fourth quarter due to rising prices of petrochemical products,” it added.

SABIC shares increased by 1.99 percent to SR89.75.

The BIG expected the Saudi stock exchange to “maintain its positive performance” in the coming weeks, with investors shifting positions to stocks capable of achieving growth.

Kingdom Holding Co. (KHC) was the top gainer last week as its shares jumped 17.50 percent to SR7.05.

KHC announced last week a net income of SR155.5 million, an increase of 48 percent compared to the results of the third quarter of 2009.

SABB shares surged 16.06 percent to SR47.70 last week as the bank recorded a net profit of SR2.03 billion for the year ending Dec. 31 2009, compared to SR2.92 billion for the same period in 2008.

Riyad bank and Saudi Hollandi Bank shares increased by 12.31 percent and 7.57 percent to SR29.20 and SR32.70 respectively.

Shares in Banque Saudi Fransi increased by 6.44 percent to SR43 and Samba Financial Group by 5.58 percent to SR56.75.

The only loser in the sector last week was Bank Albilad. Its shares plunged 5.56 percent to SR18.70.

The Mohammad Al-Mojil Group was the top overall loser last week as its shares dropped 7.64 percent to SR22.35.

The stock market turnover for the week was SR19.15 billion compared to SR15.20 billion the previous week.

Arab stock markets showed variable performance last week, mainly due to investors’ different responses to published 2009 results of listed firms, particularly blue chips, financial analysts said on Friday.

Saudi and Egyptian shares were the key beneficiaries from corporate profits and planned dividend distributions, but the United Arab Emirates’ stocks extended losses, reportedly due to sell-off by foreign investors, they added.

“I believe regional markets, particularly the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges, are still coming under pressure from the Dubai World debt issue,” Nizar Taher, chief of brokerage at the Jordan Ahli Bank, said.

“Besides, Arab bourses are affected by the fluctuating oil prices. The downward trend of crude oil prices had an apparent impact on regional markets this week,” he said. Taher and other financial analysts believed that the annual corporate results, particularly of blue chips, would remain the main moving factor for Middle East markets for the coming few weeks.

Jordanian shares came under selling pressures last week due to what Taher described as “shrinking liquidity” and profit taking moves.

The all-share index of the Amman Stock Exchange shed 1.73 percent, closing week at 2,553 points, according to the ASE weekly report.

Kuwait’s KSE all-share index fell 1 percent last week, closing at 7,062 points, due to the decline of the banking index, analysts said.

The Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges plunged 3.2 percent and 2.6 percent, to close week respectively at 1,652 points and 2,637 points.

Egypt’s AGX30 index, measuring the performance of the market’s 30 most active stocks, gained 2.7 percent, closing week at 6,864 points.

The GulfBase GCC Index increased 0.48 percent to 3,747.69 last week. The value of GCC traded shares surged by 12.37 percent to $7.17 billion and volume rose by 6.03 percent to 5.41 billion of shares last week.