JEDDAH, 30 August 2005 — After crossing 15,000 mark for the first time, the Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) dropped yesterday to close at 14,900.86, still 46.04 points higher from Sunday’s closing.
Surging oil prices, which crossed $70 a barrel yesterday, and better corporate results boosted investors’ appetite as the index of Arab world’s largest bourse continued upward march breaking records one after another.
Only 27 stocks were higher while 50 were down out of 77 stocks traded.
The 366.82 points increase in Industrial index at 39,528.89 points also helped to boost the TASI higher yesterday. The Electricity index was also higher by 61.23 points at 2,755.17.
However, the Banking index fell 58.70 points to close at 32,447.43.
The stock of Al-Baha Investment and Development Co. jumped 9.90 percent to close yesterday at SR186, followed by Tihama Advertising & Public Relations Co. share, which closed 5.12 percent higher at SR308.
Saudi Chemical Co. stock suffered 3.07 percent fall at SR347.
An informed banking source has estimated the amount of money being transacted by unlicensed firms in Saudi stocks at SR50 billion and the combined capital of investment funds under Saudi banks at SR70 billion.
Badr Al-Ghaith, an investor in stocks, told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News that he did not expect that the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) stocks would have any major impact on the index. He said most dealers are focusing on industrial stocks, especially that of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC).
SABIC stock closed 1.25 percent higher at SR1,657.50, while SEC shares closed at SR134.75, up 2.08 percent.
Taha Al-Sharief, an economic consultant, said some major investment funds had purchased a large number of SEC shares to create investor confidence, adding that many small-scale investors had become victims of such deals.
Meanwhile, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) organized for the first time a seminar in Najran on “Saudi Stock Market, Going Where.”
NCB Chief Economist Dr. Said Al-Shaikh stated that the bank’s sponsorship of such seminars in many of the Kingdom’s cities aims to raise the level of stock market client awareness with influencing factors on the market performance.
Dr. Al-Shaikh indicated that the citizens were becoming more and more interested in investing in the Saudi stock market. Thus specialized seminars provide knowledge of the importance of the market for domestic economic growth, the best methods for investments, and raise investment awareness for all.
Dr. Al-Shaikh gave a lecture on Saudi economy and its relationship with Saudi stock market.
The Al-Ahli Fund for selling and buying of Saudi stocks launched by NCB in June 1988 has achieved the best results for investors and it is also compliant with Islamic laws. The fund has competitive returns compared with other funds of the same kind. The fund’s rate of returns reached 93.3 percent.
