Saudi stocks hit record high

The Saudi stock market continued to gain steadily last week. The TASI crossed the 4900 points barrier closing at 4916.06 points on Thursday March 11, a new all-time high.

The index was driven by a 1.6% rise in the largest stock in the market Saudi Telecoms which represents 22% of the total Saudi stock market capitalisation, says Bakheet's latest report.

'Moreover the market was positively impacted by gains in both Al Rajhi Banking and SAFCO up by 1.5% and 5.3% respectively where investors' are optimistic of high profits for Q1 2004,' BFA adds.

Oil prices were up strongly this week due to the Opec decision to cut production plus strikes in Venezuela. WTI closed on Sunday March 7 at $37.31, its highest price since the beginning of the war in Iraq in March 2003.

But WTI then retreated on a news report of increasing US crude stocks. WTI closed on Wednesday March 10 at $36.20 up by 40 US cents or 1% against last week.

The Tadawul All Shares Index was up by 1.3% from the previous week. This leaves the index 10.8% higher than at the start of the year.

BFA notes that trading value reached SAR 26.4 billion, which is the highest weekly trading value ever recorded, up against last week's SAR 24.5 billion.

For the next week BFA expects the Saudi stock market to 'continue its steady gains driven by positive fundamentals while investors are waiting for Q1 2004 corporate financial results'.