JEDDAH/AMMAN, 5 May 2007 -- The Saudi stock market rebounded last week, buoyed by the strong performance of blue chip firms, particularly the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), which accounts for 26 percent of the market's capitalization.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) climbed 3.57 percent last week, closing at 7,533.11 points from 7,273.34 points previous week.

However, TASI currently remains 5.0 percent lower than the year's start.

According to the weekly report of the Riyadh-based Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) the Saudi market to benefit from the launching of a new trading system which it said would provide "a high level of monitoring and transparency" that enables the market's watchdog, the Capital Market Authority, to assume firmer control on trading.

The new system "will also minimize the misleading trading of small cap stocks" which so far was behind the market's volatility, the BFA report said.

Makkah Construction & Development Co. was the top gainer last week as its shares rose 38.06 percent to SR46.25. Shares of Saudi Industrial Export Co. surged 37.64 percent to SR61.25.

In the banking sector, shares of Samba Financial Group fell 5.80 percent to SR130 and Banque Saudi Fransi by 2.06 percent to SR59.50.

The stock market turnover, however, rose last week to SR66.58 billion compared to SR43 billion in the previous week.

Aldrees Petroleum & Transport Services Co. was most active by value as over SR3.47 billion worth of shares changed hands last week and Hail Agriculture was most active by volume at 63,984,729.

SABIC's shares edged higher by 5.08 percent last week to SR124.

In the telecom sector, shares of Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) fell 1.67 percent to SR59 but Etihad Etisalat shares rose 1.45 percent to SR52.50 last week.

Arab stock markets appeared last week to have derived support from first quarter company profits, particularly of blue chips that reported good performance in the first three months of the year, analysts said yesterday.

However, they cautioned that regional markets remained fragile and obsessed with speculation and short-breath trading pending the emergence of moving factors that give more convincing clues as to the direction of stock markets. "I think regional bourses are deriving support from first quarter results, particularly of blue chip firms," analyst Wajdi Makhamreh told Arab News.

"However, we expect investors to stick to the cautious behavior they adopted over the past weeks as a tactic for averting fresh losses, particularly in the light of the continued tension over Iran's nuclear file," he said.

Jordanian shares also steadied last week and trade volumes improved tangibly as investors decided their portfolio distributions in the light of the first quarter earnings.The all-share price index of the Amman Stock Exchange closed marginally higher at 5,974 points from last week's close at 5,970 points, according to the ASE weekly report.

"The improving turnovers are indicative of increasing confidence in the market," said Abir Abu Alia, financial adviser at the National Portfolio Co.

Kuwait's KSE all-share price index gained 1.26 percent last week, closing at 10,846 points, the highest in a year, compared with last previous week's close at 10,710 points.

"The market received support from the solid profits and strong performance of leading firms," the Global Investment House (Global) said in its weekly report.

The unified all-share price index of the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi gained 0.3 percent this week, to close at 3,970 points from 3,958 points last week.

The GulfBase GCC Index also surged 2.75 percent to 4,987.43 points and the value of traded shares rose 35.02 percent to $23.69 billion last week. However, volume of GCC traded shares fell 7.53 percent to nearly 5 billion last week.

By Khalil Hanware & Abdul Jalil Mustafa

© Arab News 2007