The board of Saudi British Bank (SABB) has proposed paying a cash dividend of SR0.35 ($0.09) per share for the second half of 2015, the country's fifth-largest lender by assets said on Sunday. The proposed payout would take the bank's total dividend in 2015 to SR0.75 per share, the statement said. It paid SR0.70 per share in 2014, according to Thomson Reuters. The National Commercial Bank (NCB) recommended paying a dividend of SR0.75 for the second half of 2015, up from SR0.65 in the second half of last year. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's stock index posted 0.06% increase at close Sunday, recovering from fall in early trading before the release of the national budget Monday. The Saudi index fluctuated between positive and negative territory in the opening minutes before slipping 0.8 percent as the largest listed company, Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC), fell 1.2 percent. The Saudi budget, due to be announced on Monday afternoon, is expected to contain spending cuts, possibly including a rise in natural gas feedstock prices for petrochemical producers such as SABIC. National Shipping Co (Bahri) slumped 8.2 percent in active trade. The shipper proposed more than doubling its annual cash dividend for 2015 to 2.5 riyals per share, but a higher dividend had been expected, and investors chose to focus instead on the budget. — SG/Reuters "Bahri is a stock that is highly sensitive to the government's spending plans," said a Jeddah-based trader. "The stock is selling off because traders are sceptical of the transportation sector, despite the fact that the company's earnings were strong last quarter." Petrochemical company Yansab fell 4.7 percent after it proposed cutting its second-half cash dividend to SR1 from SR1.5. But some stocks seen as relatively immune to budget cuts were strong. National Commercial Bank (NCB) edged up 0.5 percent in thin trade. Saudi Telecom rose 0.4 percent after opening lower. The kingdom's largest telecommunications operator offered to buy the shares in a Saudi-based sales services company, Sale Advanced Co, that it does not already own for 400 million riyals ($107 million). STC has also started buying shares of Kuwait's VIVA on Sunday, after it said last week that is would proceed with its offer in line with regulatory rules in Kuwait and did not intend to change the offer price of 1 dinar despite VIVA's board advising that the offer price was "unfair". "We believe STC's offer to acquire the remaining stake in VIVA Kuwait reflects the company's strategy to focus on high- growth markets," said a note by Riyadh-based NCB Capital. In Egypt, Cairo's benchmark fell 0.6 percent in low volumes after the central bank raised key interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday, citing inflationary pressures. Global Telecom and Commercial International Bank each dropped more than 2 percent. But Orascom Telecom, the most heavily traded stock, rose 1.5 percent. — SG/Reuters
