JEDDAH, 26 February 2006 — Despite the foiled attack on the oil processing facility at Abqaiq in the Eastern Province, the Saudi stocks Surged to a record high yesterday. The big jump in the Banking Index sent the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) soaring to an all-time high of 20,634.86. TASI only gained 10.02 points yesterday in SR28.26 billion market turnover.
The Banking Index rose 1,286.39 points to close at 49,010.31 despite fall in the share prices of Saudi Holandi Bank, SABB and Banque Saudi Fransi. Al-Rajhi Bank shares edged higher by 5 percent to SR4,116, followed by Bank AlJazira 4.99 percent to SR2,021 and Bank Albilad by 3.57 percent to SR842.
The Industrial Index rose slightly as shares of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., Yanbu National Petrochemical Co. (YANSAB), the newly listed company, Savola Group, Saudi Industrial Investment Group, Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co. and National Industrialization Co. increased while shares of all other companies fell yesterday.
There was a high demand on YANSAB’s shares in the past few days that resulted in a short halt in last Wednesday’s trading. The halt occurred after one of the Saudi banks made 122,000 bid orders prior to the market opening in Wednesday’s evening session without coordinating with market authorities. The bank orders were about 74 percent of the total orders on YANSAB’s shares on that day. YANSAB’s shares were recovering gradually in the last few days after a major drop in the share prices following their debut.
The services sector was in the red as shares of all companies dropped except shares of Aseer Trading, Toursim & Manufacturring Co.
In the telecom sector, shares of Saudi Telecom Co. and Etihad Etisalat edged lower by 0.77 percent to SR1,165 and 3.99 percent to SR722, respectively. The Agriculture Index declined after many speculators withdrew their investments following the suspension of many speculator’s investment accounts by the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA). Shares of National Agriculture Development Co. rose 1.06 percent to SR765. The shares of all other companies in the agriculture sector declined yesterday.
