TASI shed 2.33 percent last week, closing at 6,730.12 points, down from the previous week's close at 6,890.74 points.
On a week-to-week basis, the sector activity was widely negative with 12 out of 15 sectors closing with losses ranging from 0.49 percent in the hotel and tourism sector to 5.03 percent in the telecommunications and information technology sector. On the other hand, gains were seen in real estate development, retail and transport sectors with respective gains of 0.03 percent, 0.38 percent and 3.06 percent.
On an individual company basis, the top gaining companies for the week were Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. and Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe Co., which were up 7.05 percent and 6.72 percent respectively.
The biggest decliner was Middle East Specialized Cables Co., which saw a loss of 17.92 percent, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its weekly market commentary.
The value of traded shares increased to SR25.58 billion last week, compared to SR23.60 billion the previous week.
However, analysts painted an optimistic picture for Saudi stocks in light of what they described as impressive first quarter earnings.
"The first quarter results provide an indication that Saudi stocks have surpassed the fallout of the world financial crisis," Said Al-Shaikh, chief economist at the National Commercial Bank, told a local daily newspaper.
He expected the Saudi stock exchange to extend profits in the remaining part of the year, led by the petrochemical and banking sectors.
A report released last week reflected a jump of 63 percent, or $4.6 billion, in the profits of listed Saudi firms in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2009.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) shares fell 3.15 percent to SR100 last week despite impressive results for the first quarter.
According to the National Commercial Bank's Market Review and Outlook, stocks of banks and other financial services companies have prospered in the first quarter. The other top performing companies in the agricultural, telecom, and petrochemicals sectors, recorded double digit gains in the first quarter.
Gains in the retail, multi-investments, transport, industrial investment, and cement sectors indicate that investors were betting in Q1 2010 that the Saudi economy would pick up in line with the rise in oil prices and the global recovery.
Petrochemicals, which make up nearly 35 percent of the Tadawul total market capitalization, gained 11.5 percent in the first quarter. Stocks of the agricultural and food sector reported a 15.1 percent increase, which largely stems from a revival from a very low base.
Arab stock markets closed last week in the red as investors preferred to take profits following weeks of successive gains, financial analysts said Friday.
They expected regional markets in the coming weeks to retain their linkage to the movement of oil prices and performance of global markets.
"I believe Arab stock markets will be in a consolidation phase pending fresh moving factors, following last week's profit-taking tactics," said Nizar Taher, chief of brokerage at the Jordan Ahli Bank.
"Crude prices and what happens at global markets will continue to serve as key factors to reckon with in anticipating the dynamics of Middle East markets."
The Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) was the scene last week for strong volatility, as a sentiment of confidence appeared to be returning to the impoverished Jordanian market, Taher said.
The ASE all-share price index lost 1.94 percent on weekly basis, closing at 2,574 points, according to the market's weekly report.
"Traders are overwhelmingly focusing on two stocks - Taameer Jordan Holgings and the United Arab Investors - as well as their affiliated firms," Taher said.
Kuwait's KSE all-share index shed 1.8 percent last week as investors became wary of a plan by the authorities to set up a capital market authority, according to Jassem Zeraei, head of brokerage at the NBK Capital.
The benchmarks of the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi plunged 3.4 percent and 1.4 percent last week to close respectively at 1,755 points and 2,817 points.
Egypt's AGX30 index, measuring the performance of the market's 30 most active stocks, fell 1.4 percent last week, closing at 7,467 points due to a sell-off that targeted leading stocks, analysts said.
The GulfBase GCC Index fell by 1.21 percent to 4,028.04 points. The value of GCC traded shares also declined by 10.11 percent to $8.92 billion and volume plunged by 25.30 percent to 3.35 billion of shares.
