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Saudi Arabia's Tadawul and Kuwait's Index Decline: Arab Stocks

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By Marc Wolfensberger
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Saudi Arabia fell, paced by Samba Financial Group, Saudi Arabia's largest publicly traded bank, and Banque Saudi Fransi. Shares in Kuwait fell for a second day.
Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index fell 0.2 percent to 8,687.02 at 1:12 p.m. in Riyadh.
The measure added 3.6 percent last week as investors took advantage of the low valuation of Saudi Arabian stocks following four weeks of index decline. The Tadawul All Share Index has lost more than 52 percent of its value since the beginning of the year. It's the second-worst performance among indexes tracked worldwide by Bloomberg this year. Only Dubai's gauge, in the United Arab Emirates, has tumbled further.
``We expect that the market will stabilize in the coming period until year-end,'' Saudi Arabia's Bakheet Financial Advisors wrote in its weekly report, published Nov. 22.
Shares of Samba Financial fell 1.3 percent to 151 riyals after rising for six consecutive trading days. Saudi Arabia's largest publicly traded bank said on Nov. 20 it plans to invest 6 billion rupees ($98.5 million) in Crescent Commercial Bank of Pakistan, seeking to tap accelerating economic growth in the South Asian country.
Banque Saudi Fransi, Saudi Arabia's fourth-biggest bank by market value, fell 2.7 percent to 135.75 riyals.
``Investors will keep eyeing'' the upcoming annual results of large companies, Bakheet wrote in its outlook for the week.
The Kuwait Stock Exchange Index declined for a second day, falling 101.80, or 1 percent, to 9,886.7, according to the exchange's Web site. The measure has gained 5.5 percent this month.
Exchanges in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the only Arab markets open on Saturdays that are followed by Bloomberg. Exchanges in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories are shut today