JEDDAH: Saudi Arabian shares fell for a fourth day after banks in the kingdom reported lower third- quarter profit on provisions for bad loans. The Tadawul All Share Index lost 1.2 percent at 6,226.78, the lowest since Sept. 1, in Riyadh. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world's largest petrochemical maker, National Industrialization Co., Arab National Bank and Saudi British Bank led the market lower. “People are a bit concerned about the banks,” said Anas Kassem, an investment analyst at Ajeej Capital in Riyadh. “Most of us had thought that the provisioning cycle had pretty much come to an end.” Saudi banks have been hurt since the onset of the global credit crisis as provisions for bad loans rose and lending slowed after the Saad and Algosaibi business groups defaulted on at least $15.7 billion of loans. Saudi British Bank, the lender 40 percent owned by HSBC Holdings Plc, Al-Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia's biggest by market value, and Arab National Bank were among 10 out of the 11 banks in the nation that reported a decline in third-quarter profit last week. The country's banks will be required to make 100 percent provisions against non-performing loans, central bank Governor Muhammad Al-Jasser said in an interview. Saudi British Bank dropped 0.5 percent to SR41.8, a three-month low. Arab National Bank lost 3.4 percent to SR36.6. SABIC slipped 3.1 percent to SR87, the lowest since Sept. 1. Petrochemical maker National Industrialization fell 4.1 percent to SR30.4, the steepest drop since June. Two units of the company Saturday agreed to build a SR4 billion ($1.1 billion) plastics plant. Methanol Chemicals Co., a producer of methanol derivatives also known as Chemanol, dropped 9.9 percent to SR14.15 after reporting a third
