On Thursday, August 2, the Saudi stock market closed at its highest level in 16 years, up 10.6 percent since January, according to AFP news agency.
The NCFEI index closed on 2,497.17 points, up 1.1 percent from its figure of 2,468.97 point on July 26. Trading volume for the week amounted to 1.5 billion riyals ($409 million), slightly lower than last week’s 1.7 billion rials figure.
Gains have been attributed to strong performances of market leaders, such as the petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Co. (SABIC) and banking stocks, accounting for 22 percent and 42 percent of the market’s turnover, respectively.
Among blue chip stocks, Saudi French Bank and Saudi American Bank rose 6.3 and 3.0 percent respectively.
The Saudi stock market is the highest captialized bourse in the Arab world with over $60 billion, yet it operates only on an interbank market system. —(MENA Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
