Saudi Arabia's economy remained healthy, Jadwa Investment said Tuesday in its monthly chart-based review of the Kingdom's latest economic and stock market data. It said indicators of consumer spending picked up. Year-on-year comparisons were affected by the public-sector bonus awarded in March 2011, though spending was still higher than one-year earlier. Bank lending to the private sector remained on an upward trend in March. Services and commerce have been the largest recipients of new lending so far this year. With deposits also growing, the loan-to-deposit ratio fell. Year-on-year inflation was unchanged in March. A rise in food price inflation, which reached a seven-month high, offset declines in other components. Wholesale price data does not point to much inflation in the supply chain. Full balance of payments data for 2011 show that the current account surplus was $174 billion (30 percent of GDP), $14 billion higher than the preliminary estimate and up from $66 billion in 2010. Higher oil revenues were the cause of the rise. Oil prices have slipped so far in April owing to concerns about demand stemming from weaker economic data and political uncertainty in some eurozone countries. Supply has been strong and stocks in the US have risen rapidly. The euro has been fairly stable against the dollar (and therefore the riyal) over the past month. Safe haven inflows have caused renewed yen appreciation. After several months of strong performance the TASI has fallen so far in April. The decline is largely attributable to profit taking, weaker global markets and attempts to reduce speculation. Turnover has dipped so far in April, though it remains high, at an average of over SR12 billion per day. Despite attempts to reduce speculation, smaller sectors are still accounting for a disproportionately large share of trading activity. Ten sectors are down and five are up so far in April. Cement and real estate are the best performers, benefiting from strong quarterly results. Energy and building and construction are the worst performing sectors so far this month. Net income of listed companies totaled SR25 billion in the first quarter, 15 percent higher than in the first quarter of last year and 23 percent above the previous quarter. Transport, hotels and insurance recorded the strongest year-on
