Saudi Arabia stocks jumped to a six-year high as insurance companies once again outperformed the market on Sunday.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) edged up 0.61 percent to close at 11,135.96 points.

John Sfakianakis, a Riyadh-based investment strategist, told Arab News: “The market is being upwardly supportive. The insurance sector was up yet one company was delisted as well.”

He said: “As we gear up to well into the last part of the third quarter we’ll expect greater sectoral momentum.”

The insurance sector surged 2.50 percent to 1,586.11, while energy and utilities index gained 2.15 percent to 6,754.51 points.

The petrochemical index rose 0.76 percent to 9,116.75 points as Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) was the main support, adding 1.2 percent.

In the insurance sector, Mediterranean and Gulf Cooperative Insurance and Reinsurance Company and Company for Cooperative Insurance surged 9.1 and 7.7 percent respectively.

“I think, right now, there is still a lot of optimism about the local economy as well as the global monetary environment as the ECB moves toward easing. That should be supportive of stocks for now,” a regional analyst, who wants to remain anonymous, said.

The value of traded shares reached SR10.55 billion on Sunday.

The Tadawul index increased by 8.8 percent, month-on-month, in August as the prospect of opening the stock continued to buoy investors’ confidence, Jadwa Investment said in its latest report.

Average daily turnover jumped by 45.6 percent in August, the largest rise in more than two years.

In August, the TASI’s price-to-earnings (PE) valuations increased to 21.3, moving further away from the two-year average of 16.5.

In August, banks performed much better than other sectors, building and construction was boosted by developments in major national projects, but seasonality negatively affected hotels.

In other regional markets, Dubai’s bourse underperformed on Sunday as investors started cashing out in order to take part in the upcoming initial public offering of Emaar Properties’ malls unit, while most other markets edged up, Reuters reported.

Dubai’s index slid 1.7 percent to 5,035 points as Emaar fell 1.3 percent.

“I think overall this is due to the preparation for the Emaar Malls IPO,” Reuters quoted Ali Adou, portfolio manager at The National Investor in Abu Dhabi, as saying. “There’s a pressure on the market to exit (other stocks) and participate in the offer.”

Qatar’s bourse fell 0.7 percent to 13,882 points after touching an all-time intraday high of 14,053 points. Abu Dhabi’s bourse rose 0.4 percent to 5,161 points.