The market capitalization of shares invested by government-run agencies in Saudi stock market grew by 25.75 percent to SR791 billion by end of August (2014) compared to SR629 billion by the end of 2013, according to a financial report.

The government agencies hold more than 35 percent of shares in the stock market in 13 sectors represented by 50 listed companies, a report in Al-Eqtisadiah daily said.

Earning of government investments in the stock market stood at nearly 26 percent as the market capitalization of the stock market rose by 29 percent to SR2.26 trillion by the end of August compared with SR1.75 trillion by the end of 2013, the report said.

Government investments were run by three agencies — the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), Pubic Pension Agency (PPA) and Public Investments Fund (PIF) — in addition to government shares in some companies such as Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the National Commercial Bank (NCB), and Saudi Railways Corporation (SRC).

GOSI investments in the stock market yielded the highest profits at 39 percent, followed by PPA and PIF at 28 percent and 26 percent, respectively, the report said.

As regards values of profits in the first 8 months of the current year, PIF was the highest at SR96 billion (59 percent), followed by GOSI at SR33 billion (20 percent) and PPA at SR13.5 billion (8 percent), the report said.

PIF captured the highest government investments in the shares in the local stock market with market capitalization valued at SR459 billion (58 percent), followed by GOSI at SR150 billion (19 percent) and PPA at SR48 billion (6 percent) while other investments owned by the government in the stock market stood at SR134 billion (17 percent), the report said.