JEDDAH, 2 March 2008 — Saudi stocks failed to maintain last week’s upward trend as the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) dropped 113.57 points to close at 10,177.91 yesterday. Industrial stocks led declines on Saudi Arabia’s bourse. The Industrial index fell 1.43 percent to 27,246.11 points yesterday.
Shares in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) fell 1.20 percent to SR184.75, Yanbu National Petrochemical Co. (YANSAB) by 2.80 percent to SR52, Saudi International Petrochemical Co. by 2.63 percent to SR37, Sahara Petrochemical Co. by 3.33 percent to SR43.50, Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. by 1.85 percent to SR26.50 and Saudi Chemical Co. by 1.65 percent to SR29.75. However, shares in Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) increased by 1.46 percent to SR52.
Meanwhile, five new projects of SABIC comprising 13 factories will start production this year, an official statement said. The new projects will increase SABIC’s production capacity and strengthen its strategic 2020 plan, it added.
The new projects include Al-Razi and Gas, in which SABIC has a 70 percent stake apart from Sharq (50 percent), YANSAB (55 percent) and Ibn Zahr (80 percent), the statement added. Kayan, in which the company has 35 percent stake, will be operational by 2010.
Last year, SABIC posted a net profit of SR27 billion against SR20.2 billion in the previous year, registering a 33 percent increase.
The profitability of its shares rose from SR8.12 to SR10.81 per share. The company’s operational profit reached SR41.05 billion in 2007 compared to SR30.89 billion in the previous year, the statement said.
In the banking sector, the best performer was Bank Albilad, whose share price advanced by 8.02 percent to SR37 per share. The other gainer was Banque Saudi Fransi. Shares in the Saudi Investment Bank remained unchanged, while all other shares declined yesterday.
In the insurance sector, shares in five companies fell while other companies were in positive territory yesterday.
Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) and Etihad Etisalat shares dropped by 1.70 percent and 0.74 percent, respectively.
Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) shares also fell 1.61 percent to SR15.25 yesterday.
The stock market turnover was over SR10 billion yesterday.
BMG Saudi Index Drifts Down
The BMG Saudi Index started the week with a fall. The index dropped by 1.1 percent to 560.60 points. The market turnover, however, did not follow the performance of the index, experiencing an increase in the value invested by 11.4 percent, ending yesterday’s session at SR5.4 billion ($1.4 billion) compared to 4.8 billion ($1.3 billion) on Wednesday.
Most of the BMG Saudi Index’s sectors declined, with the exception of the agricultural and services sectors, which went up by 0.8 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. The rest of the sectors, the telecommunications, electricity, industrial, banking, and insurance sectors went down by 1.5 percent, 1.4 percent, 1.2 percent, 1.0 percent, and 0.4 percent, respectively.
