JEDDAH, 31 December 2005 — The Saudi stock market continued to be volatile last week ahead of the new year. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) fell 43.19 points or 0.26 percent last week to close on Thursday at 16,749.95 points.
The index is higher by 104.11 percent so far this year.
Analysts say the results of blue chip and petrochemical firms will have a “major impact” on the market after the release of their 2005 balance sheets.
The value of traded shares declined to SR143.66 billion last week, compared to SR160 billion in the previous week.
Bishah Agriculture shares gained 38.27 percent last week to SR1,008, followed by Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries & Medical Appliances Corp. by 13.33 percent to SR1,084 and Saudi Industrial Export Co. by 12.76 percent to SR822.
However, shares of some of major companies plunged last week, including Saudi Arabia Refineries Co. by 29.07 percent, Almaraei Co. by 27.73 percent and Gizan Agriculture by 27.29 percent.
Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) was the most active by volume and value at 74,548,797 and SR10.87 billion, respectively. SEC shares closed on Thursday at SR144.50.
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s KSE all-share price index edged higher last week, closing at 11,445 points compared to previous week’s close at 11,429 points. The KSE benchmark index gained 79 percent during 2005, as it started the year at 6,409 points.
Arab stocks, which performed very well in 2005, are expected to score fresh gains early in January, propelled by promising prospects of financial results in the fourth quarter of the year, analysts said yesterday.
The all-share prince index of the Amman Stock Exchange shed 1.26 percent last week, closing at 8,192 points.
The Jordanian bourse’s CEO Jalil Tarif has announced that the ASE Index climbed 93 percent in 2005, while the value of Jordanian shares grew by 105 percent, to 26.7 billion Jordanian dinars ($37.7 billion).
