RIYADH, 3 September 2004 — Saudi shares dipped 1.0 percent in the week to Thursday, as investors took a pause after a 10-week record-setting rally fueled by strong oil prices and solid company results.
The all-share index of the largest Arab bourse eased to 6,317.36 points from a record-high weekly close of 6,382.11 a week ago. The bourse is still up 42.4 percent this year after rising 76 percent in 2003.
“The Saudi stock market witnessed this week a limited corrective retreat amid increased volatility particularly on Monday where the index lost two percent, then rebounded 1.4 percent the next day,” Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) said.
Turnover eased to SR42.7 billion ($11.4 billion) from SR47.6 billion a week earlier. Decliners outnumbered gainers by 48 to 21, with three shares unchanged.
Saudi Electricity Co., the most active share with 10.3 percent of turnover, dropped 3.5 percent to SR145.25.
A number of small-caps in services, industry and agriculture — which have soared in speculative buying fuelled by high liquidity — saw sharp price swings. BFA said many of these stocks were overvalued and “considered as financially unsafe”.
Saudi Telecom, the largest listed firm on the bourse, lost 2.9 percent to SR490.
Meanwhile, Kuwaiti shares surged in the week closing Wednesday, driven by political stability and economic reforms that boosted investor confidence, analysts and traders said.
The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) index finished the week on 5,883.80 points, up 0.6 percent on last week’s closing of 5,848.10 points. The index is now up 22.8 percent on last year’s close of 4,790.20 points.
The index this week rallied past the 2,900-point psychological barrier, setting a record high of 2,907.60 points on Tuesday, before shedding much of the gains Wednesday on profit-taking sales.
