JEDDAH, 4 February 2006 — Saudi stocks surged to a record high last week with the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) crossing the 19,000-point psychological barrier and closing at an all-time high of 19,069.50 points on Wednesday.
TASI gained 296.19 points last week, closing on Thursday at 19,047.97 points, up from 18,751.78 points in previous week and down 21.53 points from Wednesday’s close. TASI is currently 13.97 percent higher than the year’s start.
The stock market turnover increased to SR219.02 billion last week compared to SR206 billion in the previous week.
The Riyadh-based Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) attributed last week’s gains mainly to the performance of the country’s blue chips such as Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and the Saudi Telecom Co. (STC), which announced record profits for 2005.
SABIC shares rose 7.91 percent last week to close on Thursday at SR1,848. However, STC shares slid 2.94 percent in a week to SR1,190. The value of SABIC and STC shares traded last week reached SR20.5 billion and SR8.50 billion, respectively.
Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff Co. (SADFCO) shares plunged 10 percent in a week to SR600.75.
The BFA expected trading this week to be “cautiously quiet as investors re-evaluate their portfolios and consolidate their positions” in the light of 2005 results of listed firms.
However, analyst Yassin Al-Jafri said, “the factors that justify new gains are still there and the market is getting fresh momentum”. He mainly referred to the soaring oil prices and 2005 profits of listed firms.
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s KSE all-share price index moved up 0.6 percent last week, closing at 11,923 points compared with previous week’s close at 11,847 points.
The all-share price index of the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi shed further 2.5 percent this week, closing at 6,505 points down from 6,675 points previous week.
The UAE benchmark price is currently 4.9 percent lower than the year’s start, analysts said.
The fact that the decline took place despite good profits announced by most of the country’s businesses indicate that investors aspired for “better performance”, according to an Amman-based analyst.
The Egyptian stock exchange was volatile last week.
The Hermes all-share price index shed 2 percent on Thursday, closing week at 67,625 points after hitting a record level of 68,994 points on Wednesday.
However, the Egyptian benchmark price gained 1.1 percent from previous week’s close of 66,866 points.
Arab stocks, which showed mixed performance previous week, are expected to be lackluster this week in what analysts described yesterday as a “consolidation phase” prior to fresh gains.
They expected a short-lived impact on stock markets by interest rate hikes which regional governments planned next week to cope up with similar interest rate hikes on the US dollar.
Jordanian stocks rebounded last week following the declaration by the Arab Bank of record profits for 2005, its highest earnings since its establishment 75 years ago.
The all-share price index of the Amman Stock Exchange gained 3.66 percent last week, closing on Thursday at 8,591 points from last week’s close at 8,288 points, according to the ASE weekly report.
