The Saudi stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) gained 0.27 percent to 6,830.31 Saturday. The following stocks were active in Saudi Arabia's market. National Agriculture Development Co. (NADEC AB) climbed 1 percent, the biggest increase since Feb. 1, to SR31. The board of the Saudi Arabian producer of dairy products known as Nadec recommended paying a 2011 dividend of SR0.75 a share. Saudi National Petrochemical Co. (Petrochem) gained 1.2 percent, the most since Jan. 29, to SR21. The company said its joint venture with Arabian Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Co. is likely to fully start up its Jubail plant in the second quarter. Zamil Industrial Investment Co. (ZIIC) added 0.7 percent to SR30.20, the highest price since Feb. 14. The Saudi maker of building materials said its unit won a contract valued at SR245 million ($65 million) from Saudi Oger Ltd. to manufacture, supply and erect prefabricated villas for a housing project belonging to the National Guard in Riyadh. Tadawul's market capitalization increased by 2.34 percent to reach SR1.34 trillion compared to SR1.31 trillion last week as against a week ago. TASI added about 15 points, or 0.22 percent, last week ending Wednesday to close at 6,811.97 points, compared to the prior week, which closed at 6797.09 points. The market turnover lost 2 percent and traded 1.89 billion shares as compared to previous week's 1.93 billion shares. The total value of traded shares reached SR42.3 billion as compared to previous week's SR43.2 billion. The number of executed transactions reached 863.1 thousand as compared to 953.4 thousand transactions for the previous week, decrease of 9.5 percent. Elsewhere, US stocks may strain to hold 9-month highs next week if upcoming earnings from US retailers are as unimpressive as the rest of the profit season has been. “Earnings have generally come in more disappointing than they have been,” said Robbert Van Batenburg, head of equity research at Louis Capital in New York. “I don't think there's a lot of fireworks coming” from next week's financial results. The index ended Friday at 1,361, its highest since May 2011. A break above 1,370 would put the S&P 500 at its highest since June 2008, before the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers.
