JEDDAH, 2 May 2006 — The Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) announced yesterday it had given licenses to three consultancy firms offering investors financial advice.
The CMA approved licenses for Mohammed Al-Shamimry Office for Financial Consultancy, Abdel-Aziz bin Saleh Al-Rabdy for Financial Consultancy and Dar for Investment Management and Development.
The CMA said the measure was aimed to control rumors and speculation in the market. These are the major reasons blamed for the recent crash in stock prices.
The Saudi stock market has lost more than 40 percent of its capitalization since February when speculators liquidated holdings en masse in response to CMA moves to rein in speculation.
CMA made history in January by imposing fines of SR170 million ($45 million) on three stock traders for violating the authority’s regulations and engaging in suspicious speculative activities.
The Saudi stock market reacted positively to the CMA’s move. The Tadawul All-Share Index jumped 374.19 points or 2.87 percent to close yesterday at 13,417.56.
Over SR17 billion worth of shares changed hands as out of 79 stocks traded 75 were higher while only four were in the negative territory.
