By Haris Anwar
Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index rose for the first day in three, tracking global stock markets, on speculation government bailouts will stimulate the economy.
Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co., a unit of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., climbed to the highest in more than three weeks. Al-Rajhi Bank, the country’s largest bank by market value, led gains in the financial industry, while Almarai Co., Saudi Arabia’s biggest foodmaker, rose the most in more than a month.
The Tadawul All Share Index advanced 4.1 percent to 4,604.88 at 11:17 a.m. in Riyadh, the highest in two weeks. The S&P 500 has surged more than 12 percent this week, its best weekly performance since 1974, after China cut interest rates and the Federal Reserve committed $800 billion to help resuscitate lending markets, boosting speculation government action will pull the world’s economy out of recession and boost demand.
“The Saudi market is rallying on the global optimism that the worst is probably behind us,” Abdulla al-Aqil, a trader at Samba Financial Group, said in a phone interview from Riyadh. “Stocks with a large capitalization will lead in this upward move, which I think will continue this week.”
The kingdom’s oil surplus and sovereign funds are secure and unaffected by the global financial crisis, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah quoted King Abdullah as saying. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and de facto OPEC leader, sees $75 a barrel as a fair price for oil, the king said.
Saudi Arabian Fertilizer surged 7.8 percent to 86 riyals. The stock has climbed 19 percent during the past two sessions, to give the company a market value of about 21.875 billion riyals ($5.83 billion). Al-Rajhi Bank advanced 9.3 percent to 59 dirhams. Almarai rose 7.4 percent, the most since Oct. 28, to 127 dirhams.
The Saudi bourse is the only Arab exchange monitored by Bloomberg open on Saturdays.
To contact the reporter on this story: Haris Anwar in Dubai on Hanwar2@bloomberg.net
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