The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) shed 1.79 percent on a weekly basis to close at 6,302.52 points. On a week-to-week basis, the sector activity was negatively biased with 10 out of 15 sectors closing with losses ranging from 0.31 percent by the Retail sector to 4.41 percent by the Banks & Financial Services sector. On the other hand, the gaining sectors for the week ranged from 0.22 by the Petrochemical Industries sector to 3.11 percent by the Energy & Utilities sector, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its weekly market commentary.

The top gainers for the week were Advanced Petrochemical Co. with a gain of 22.30 percent to close at SR24.95 and The Alujain Corporation with a gain of 13.82 percent to close for the week at SR19.35. The top losers for the week on the other hand were Saudi Steel Pipes Co. with a loss of 13.12 percent to close at SR19.20 and The Saudi Chemical Co. losing 10.34 percent to close at SR43.40.

The Saudi stock market turnover reached SR14.36 billion last week as compared to SR12.13 billion for the past week.

"I believe the Saudi market has suffered from the negative impact of the third quarter results released so far by banks, which fell short of expectations by consultancy houses," Saudi analyst Khalid Harethi said.

He pointed out that allocations for doubtful loans were behind the decline in the third quarter earnings of certain banks, which could indicate the adoption of harsher policies by Saudi banks in extending credit to potential clients.

The banking sector was in the red last week because of disappointing third quarter results. The major losers were SABB (9.68 percent), the Arab National Bank (8.23 percent), Bank AlJazira (6.43 percent) Banque Saudi Fransi (6.35 percent) and Riyad Bank (4.59 percent).

The Saudi petrochemical sector unveiled good profits for the third quarter, preventing stocks from sliding further, analysts said.

The Saudi stock market showed slow growth in the first nine months of this year. According to Tadawul report, at the end of the first nine months of this year the TASI closed at 6,392.39 points, a gain of 70.35 points or 1.11 percent over the close of the same period of the previous year.

Total equity market capitalization reached SR1.26 trillion in the first nine months, increasing by 2.54 percent over the same period of the previous year. The total value of shares traded, however, dropped by 42.27 percent to SR588.69 billion.

The total number of shares traded reached 25.85 billion shares compared to 47.16 billion shares traded during the first nine months of 2009, decreasing by 45.18 percent.

Arab stock markets reflected a mixed performance last week mainly due to investors' reactions to the third quarter results and concerns over future economic developments in the world's major economies, financial analysts said Friday.

They, however, expressed optimism over regional stocks, citing rising oil prices and the strong macroeconomic standings of Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

"I believe the outlook remains positive for the Gulf stock markets in general, as higher oil prices mean larger surplus petrodollars that seek investment outlets in equity markets," Wajdi Makhamreh, CEO of the Amman-based Noor Investments brokerage, told Arab News.

"There is also an upbeat over third quarter results of listed firms and the macroeconomic scene, where regional governments are keen on carrying out development projects that involve pumping money into the trade cycle," he said.

But Makhamreh warned that speculation and short-term strategies would continue to dominate Middle East markets due to fears relating to unforeseen negative developments on global markets and recovery concerns which usually have backfire on oil prices.

Jordanian stocks were volatile last week, mainly due to a decision by the management of the Amman Stock Exchange to place under custody assets of key investors for their failure to repay loans, Makhamreh said.

The ASE all-share index closed week flat at 2,328 points, according to the market's weekly report.

Kuwaiti shares extended gains last week, finding support from the quarterly profits of the banking sector as well as from the performance of the mobile Zain group, which reported a 96 percent growth in its profits for the third quarter, according to the weekly report of the Kuwait-based Gulf Invest investment firm.

The KSE all-share index gained 0.22 per cent last week, closing at 7,010 points, despite a profit-taking move that involved almost all Kuwaiti sectors on Thursday, the report said.

The United Arab Emirates’ stock markets kept up their rally last week, deriving momentum mainly from the real estate sector and third quarter earnings of other listed firms, analysts said.

The benchmark of the Dubai exchange gained 1.4 percent last week, closing at 1,747 points, while the Abu Dhabi bourse climbed 2.7 percent, ending the week at 2,758 points.

Egypt's AGX30 index, which measures the performance of the market's 30 most active stocks, closed for the week unchanged at 6,879 points.

The GulfBase GCC Index fell 0.82 percent to 3,944.87 points. The value of GCC traded shares surged 15.46 percent to $6.18 billion and volume increased by 32.84 percent to 4.24 billion of shares.