Saudi shares regain last week's losses

Record profits for Sabic

According to brokers, strong buying operations pushed the index above 9,000 points as the prices of 110 listed firms went up including five to the maximum limit of 10%.

These were Alliance, Co-operative, Halawni Brothers, Misk, and Al Hukair.

The prices of 11 listed firms went down.

Sabic has announced a 13% increase in H1 profits to SR14.5bn, compared to SR12.5bn for the same period last year.

Sabic also posted its highest quarterly profit since the company was founded, reporting SR7.5bn compared to SR6.4bn for Q1 2007.

Sabic's board decided in a meeting to distribute SR5.2bn cash dividends for H1. This represents SR1.75 per share.

Sabic led the market rise and went up by 1.6% after trading 9bn shares valued at SR600m.

Kayan also rose by 7.8%, Yansab by 4.2%, and Petrorabigh by 2.3%.

Al Mutaqademeh shares rose by less than 1% despite the announcement of a 300% increase in profits to SR75.8m compared to SR2.3m last year.

Telecom and bank shares perform strongly

Mobily shares jumped by 2.1% after the company announced a 40% increase in H1 profits and a 47% rise for Q2 profits to SR774m compare to SR554m last year.

Zain also registered a strong rise, going up by 7%.

The banking sector saw a strong rise, led by Inmaa bank which rose by 4.6%, Samba by 3.9%, Al Rajhi by 3.3%, and Saudi French Bank by 3.7%, while SABB fell by 2.1%.

Analysts believe that the Saudi market has put an end to its declining trend, which started from the third quarter of the year and pushed the index down by 20%, adding that Sabic's strong profits will push the market to retain its upward trend.