RIYADH: Saudi Arabian stocks opened flat on Wednesday amid a wave of earning announcements for the Kingdom's listed companies.
As of 10:30 a.m. Saudi time, both the main and parallel indexes were flat. TASI traded at 12,302 points, and Nomu was at 25,543 points.
Oil giant Aramco inched up by 0.13 percent and major chemical maker SABIC gained 0.65 percent.
SABIC had closed a deal to acquire Clariant’s 50 percent stake in US-based Scientific Design — a global leader in licensing chemical process technologies. The firm is currently a 50/50 joint venture between the two parties.
In the financial sector, the Kingdom’s largest valued bank, Al Rajhi Bank, was up 0.5 percent, and Alinma Bank added 1.2 percent amid trading of more than 1.2 million shares.
Shares in Saudi Arabia’s biggest lender, the Saudi National Bank, or SNB, declined by 1.2 percent despite hitting a record closing high of SR74.9 ($20) last session.
SNB had earlier reported an increase in profit of 10.7 percent in 2021 compared to a year ago.
Telecom giant Saudi Telecom Co., known as stc, saw an 0.85 percent increase in its share price after announcing plans to establish a unit specialized in data center hosting and connectivity.
Positive moves continued in the telecoms sector with operator Mobily, formally known as Etihad Etisalat Co., also up by 0.9 percent in early trading.
Shares in Saudi Chemical Co. fell 0.86 percent. The company will distribute cash dividends at SR0.5 per share for the first nine months of 2021 on Thursday, Feb. 3.
In energy trading, Brent crude reached $89.4 per barrel, and US benchmark WTI crude oil hit $88.5 per barrel as of 10:15 a.m. Saudi time.
