RIYADH, 15 October 2004 — Saudi stocks rose 1.1 percent in the week to Thursday, hitting a record high mid-week on continued strong oil prices and investor expectations of solid earnings from some of the Kingdom’s top firms, traders said.
Surging oil prices have pumped cash into the world’s biggest crude exporter, boosting corporate profits and increasing liquidity on the stock exchange. A number of Saudi banks have already published 9-month profit growth of around a third or more.
The all-share index of the largest Arab bourse closed at 6,666.15 points yesterday, up from 6,596.14 a week ago. The market settled at a new high of 6,706.34 points on Monday.
Turnover fell to SR35.6 billion ($9.49 billion) from SR40.7 billion a week earlier.
The two largest listed companies, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and Saudi Telecom Co., both had a good week, rising 3.2 percent and 0.8 percent respectively. The two firms together represent 38 percent of market capitalization.
“Investors are expecting a continuous profit growth in these companies’ forthcoming Q3 2004 results,” Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) said, adding strong oil prices had also helped.
Decliners outnumbered gainers by 36 to 33 during the week, while three shares were unchanged.
Bakheet said there was also some profit-taking as investors tried to raise liquidity ahead of an initial public offering tomorrow from Ettihad Etisalat, the consortium that won Saudi Arabia’s second mobile phone license.
