JEDDAH: Saudi stocks rose sharply at the start of trading on Sunday, in the stock market's first session since King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, ordered SR500 billion unprecedented economic benefits. The Saudi stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index (TASI climbed 4.51 percent to close at 6,343.79 points Sunday. All 145 listed shares increased as well as the main 15 sectors led by the construction and cement industries, which added 5.3 percent each, following the king's announcement on Friday. Saudi Arabia's index is expected to be in positive territory for the whole week on the latest $93 billion aid by King Abdullah. This was in addition to the $37 billion announced last month to ease social tensions. "In combination, both the stimulus plans in Saudi, will have some positive impact on the ground in the short-term," said Akber Naqvi, fund manager at Al Masah Capital in Dubai. Saudi Basic Industries Corp. advanced by 5.4 percent and Al-Rajhi Bank climbed 5 percent. Bourses in Gulf states UAE and Qatar also rose more than 2 percent. Kuwait's index edged higher, despite Etisalat scrapping its $12 billion deal to buy a controlling stake in Kuwaiti telecoms group Zain. Zain dropped 2.9 percent. An exodus of businesses from unstable North African markets may eventually help relatively safer Gulf markets of UAE and Qatar, analysts said. "Local institutions and foreign buyers in the region are on a lookout for markets away from political tensions .....UAE and Qatar provide such an environment," Samer Al-Jaouni, general manager of Dubai-based Middle East Financial Brokerage Co, said Sunday. Dubai bluechips Emaar Properties and Arabtec led the advance in Dubai, gaining 3.2 percent and 5.7 percent. The index climbed 2 percent to 1,502 points. Qatar's benchmark gained 2 percent, led by heavyweight Industries Qatar that climbed by 3 percent. The bourse moved a step closer to acquiring emerging market status from index compiler MSCI Thursday by adopting a standard international settlement system for stock trading. "Foreign investors are pumping funds into Qatar as they see it as a safe haven in the region. Markets like Dubai and Doha will look to benefit from the unrest around." said Al-Jaouni. The markets showed little reaction to the attacks in Libya. "Regional markets have priced in what's happening in Libya," said Naqvi said. "Investors have been discounting a civil-war kind of situation there for a while. More important for the region is what's happening in Bahrain and we are watching that situation closely." Bahrain's five-year credit default swaps have doubled since January as the unrest gripped the Arab world, hitting 355 basis points Tuesday, their highest level since July 2009. The yield on Bahrain's Islamic bond maturing in 2014 jumped to a one-year high of 4.5 percent.
