RIYADH, 13 February 2004 — The Saudi stock market yesterday ended the week near an all-time high, helped by a 1.7 percent gain in the blue chip shares of Saudi Telecom Co. (STC), Bakheet Financial Advisers (BFA) said.
Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) ended at 4,601.11 points, up from its closing at 4,584.26 points on Jan. 28, its last trading day before closing for nine days for holidays, according to BFA.
“TASI closed at 4,613.56 points on Wednesday, as the highest ever value, driven by a 1.7 percent increase in STC amid expectations for the announcement of high profits and dividends to shareholders,” said BFA.
BFA said that STC was expected to announce financial results and the payment of dividends to investors soon and that this would be “the major engine” driving the market next week. The TASI is now 3.7 percent up since the start of January. Trading value during the week reached SR16.7 billion ($4.5 billion), with STC being the most actively traded, up from the pre-holiday level of SR13.6 billion ($3.6 billion).
Stock prices of 42 companies rose, 25 saw their shares decline and three were unchanged. Other blue chip gainers besides STC included Saudi British Bank which rose 0.9 percent for the week.
The biggest losers were Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co., falling by 1.1 percent and one percent respectively.
Saudi Arabia has the largest capitalization of any Arab stock market with more than $142 billion, but operates only on an interbank basis. The Saudi bourse has been on the rise since March 2003, driven by strong oil prices that have boosted public revenues and abundant cash flow, combining to lift investor confidence.
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti shares resumed their upward trend following the week-long holidays, setting a new all-time high at the close of the week on Wednesday, traders said. The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) index fnished the week at 5,264.90 points, up 2.5 percent on the closing two weeks ago of 5,139.30 points. The closing is a new all-time record high eclipsing the previous record set on Jan. 24. The index has already gained 9.9 percent on the 2003 closing of 4,790.20 points.
The market continued to resist correction pressures and stayed above the 5,000-point psychological barrier, while trading was relatively quiet as investors were still returning from holiday.
The index ended 2003 a staggering 101.7 percent up on the previous year, hitting unprecedented levels on the back of positive political and economic indicators.
It closed 2002 up 39 percent after increasing 26.8 percent in 2001. Between 2000 and 2003, the index gained more than 250 percent.
The average value of daily trading this week was 84 million dinars ($280 million) down from 103.7 million dinars ($345.7 million) recorded two weeks ago. The average daily trading for the month of January was a healthy 110.3 million dinars ($367.7 million). The average daily turnover was $223 million last year, $86.4 million in 2002 and only $48 million in 2001.
