The Saudi stock exchange went up 4.6 percent for the week after a strong showing by the lead Saudi petrochemical firm SABIC, Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) said Thursday.
The NCFEI all-shares index, the most highly capitalized in the Arab world with around 60 billion dollars, closed at 2,285.92 points, up from 2,184.68 the week before, the Riyadh-based consultants said.
"After four weeks of continued losses, the Saudi stock market made a U-turn and is back on its bullish trend," BFA said.
SABIC, which has 21 percent of the Saudi market capitalization, gained 13.6 percent for the week.
The petrochemical giant announced in October that it had more than tripled its profits for the first nine months of the year compared with 1999.
A total of 11,106,825 shares were traded over the week for a value of 486 million dollars, compared with 210 million dollars last week.
Stock prices of 41 firms went up for the week, while 15 sank, eight stayed the same and 11 did not trade.
The Saudi bourse put in its best performance for eight years in 1999, with the NCFEI jumping 43.6 percent, due mainly to high oil prices and economic reforms.
Despite the recent losses, it is still 7.7 percent up on the start of the year -- RIYADH (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
