Tadawul’s winning run continues

Saudi shares rose again for an eighth consecutive day on Sunday, with positive market sentiment from the kingdom’s sovereign bond issuance showing little sign of wearing off.

Qatari stocks fell sharply, while indexes in the UAE were little changed.

The Tadawul All Share Index ended the day 0.7 per cent higher at 5,977.98, making its current winning streak its longest in more than two years.

Banking stocks led gains, with concerns over the country’s liquidity crisis easing following the record US$17.5 billion bond sale this month.

“The fact there was $67bn worth of bids for the issue showed how much untapped demand there was for Saudi debt,” said Sanyalak Manibhandu, a research manager at NBAD Securities.

“That’s proved encouraging for investors who had been concerned about the country’s fiscal deficit.”

NCB, the kingdom’s largest bank by market capitalisation, rose 7.8 per cent on Sunday, with Samba and Al Rajhi closing up 3.0 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

Shares in Qatar, by contrast, had their worst day in about six weeks, closing down 2.2 per cent. CBQ shares closed 3.8 per cent lower, after the bank announced plans to increase its capital by up to 17 per cent.

Shares in Dubai closed 0.08 per cent higher at 3,320.92, with gains by Emaar Properties and Arabtec cancelled out by falls from du, Dubai Investments and DXB Entertainments.

Amlak Finance shares had their best day in eight months, rising 5.9 per cent to Dh1.24.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index fell 0.1 per cent to 4,286.34 despite gains by FGB and NBAD.

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