Saudi Stock Exchange Gains on Strong Earnings and Oil Prices; Fall of Qatar – Reuters

Oct 23 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s stock market ended higher on Sunday in response to higher oil prices and strong earnings, while the Qatari index fell amid falling natural gas prices.

Crude prices stabilized on Friday as hopes of stronger Chinese demand and a weaker dollar outweighed worries about a global economic slowdown and the impact of rising interest rates on fuel consumption. Read more

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index (<.TASI>) gained 0.4%, led by a 1.3% rise in oil giant Saudi Aramco (<2222.SE>) and a 1.8% rise in Riyad Bank (<1010.SE>), which recorded a sharp rise in quarterly profit.

Other winners include National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (<4030.SE>) rose 2.9%. After hours trading, the company reported a quarterly net profit of 269.9 million riyals ($71.82 million), up from 18 million riyals a year ago.

The Saudi National Bank (<1180.SE>), the country’s largest lender, edged up 0.3%, after posting a net profit of 4.725 billion riyals ($1.26 billion) in the quarter, from 3.98 billion riyals a year earlier. This was below EFG Hermes’ estimate of 5.25 billion riyals.

Separately, the kingdom’s crown prince on Sunday launched an initiative to attract supply chain investment to and from the kingdom, aiming to raise an initial amount of 40 billion riyals. Read more

The Qatari index (<.QSI>) fell 0.5%, hit by a 1.1% drop in petrochemicals maker Industries Qatar ().

The Qatari market could see more price corrections with the sharp decline in natural gas prices last week, said Daniel Takieddine, CEO MENA BDSwiss.

“Commodity could prolong losses as production exceeds expectations and warm weather limits demand, increasing pressure on the stock market,” he said.

Outside the Gulf, the first-order Egyptian index (<.EGX30>) fell 0.2%, Telecom Egypt () losing 1.9%.

($1 = 3.7580 riyals)

Reporting by Ateeq Shariff in Bangalore; Editing by Alex Richardson

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