Saudi Arabia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Telecoms & IT, Retail and Agriculture & Food sectors led shares higher. At the close, stock bechmark Tadawul All Share Index added 0.09%. The best performers of the session on the Tadawul All Share were Mobile Telecommunications Company, which rose 8.87% or 0.90 points to trade at 11.05 at the close. Meanwhile, Saudi Fisheries Co. added 3.72% or 0.40 points to end at 11.15 and Etihad Etisalat Co was up 3.58% or 0.80 points to 23.15 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Al-Ahlia Insurance Company, which fell 3.94% or 0.55 points to trade at 13.40 at the close. Saudi Indian Company Insurance (SE:8110) declined 3.22% or 0.55 points to end at 16.55 and The Mediterranean&Gulf Insurance Co was down 3.00% or 0.65 points to 21.05. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange by 79 to 71 and 27 ended unchanged. Shares in Mobile Telecommunications Company rose to 52-week highs; rising 8.87% or 0.90 to 11.05. «I believe the market is expecting Mobily to report profits just like Zain did,» said Iyad Ghulam, senior equity analyst at NCB Capital. «But I don›t expect the company to be able to report strong growth in sales as Zain did, and costs may remain relatively high,» Ghulam added. NCB Capital has forecast Mobily will post a small loss of 50 million riyals ($13.3 million) for the three months to March 31. Saudi banks started strongly but then came well off their highs. Mid-sized Bank Aljazira, which jumped as much as 2.6 percent early in the day after its first-quarter earnings beat expectations, closed 0.9 percent lower. Aljazira made a net profit of SR216 million; NCB Capital had expected SR184 million and EFG Hermes, SR165 million. Profit plunged 43.3 percent from a year earlier, but the bank said this was because of a SR209 million special gain from a land sale in the year-earlier period. Shares in bigger banks Al Rajhi and Riyad Bank traded higher early in the day but closed flat. Al Rajhi, which reported quarterly earnings in line with forecasts, had dropped 2.3 percent on Sunday on news that it was among Saudi companies being sued by US insurers over the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Riyad Bank›s first quarter net profit fell 10.8 percent to SR1.05 billion but was ahead of the average analyst forecast of 876.5 million riyals. Saudi Investment Bank, the worst performing lender, lost 1.8 percent. Before the start of trade, exchange data showed financially troubled construction company Saudi Oger had sold a 2.8 percent stake in the bank, bringing its stake down to 5.8 percent. The buyers of the stake were not revealed. In Abu Dhabi, Eshraq Properties, whose shares came under pressure last week on news that the emirate›s property prices were softening, rebounded 1.8 percent after Abu Dhabi government fund Mubadala said it was considering forming a venture with the loss-making real estate developer. The Abu Dhabi index was the region›s best performer on Monday, adding 1.2 percent. In Dubai, loss-making builder Arabtec rose 3.2 percent, pulling away from a six-year low after Arabtec hired a new chief financial officer, Peter Pollard, who will oversee its recapitalization program. At a shareholder meeting on Tuesday, In Doha, real estate firms and banks were the main drags on the index, which fell 0.9 percent. Ezdan Holding Group was the worst performer, dropping 3.4 percent, while the largest bank, Qatar National Bank, fell 2.1 percent. Egypt›s bourse was closed for a public holiday. — SG/Reuters
