The return of pressure on the Saudi stock market after a brief recovery

The Saudi stock market returned to a decline in trading today, Thursday, after a brief rise at the open, coinciding with investors continuing to absorb the quarterly business results of listed companies, and despite a jump in oil prices due to new Western sanctions on Russia. The TASI general index tested the 11,600-point barrier at the opening, before falling back to 11,568 points. Shares in energy giant Aramco fell after yesterday’s best daily performance in more than two years, and other leading stocks such as National Bank and ACWA Power also fell. Hope in oil prices Oil prices recovered today after the United States blacklisted Russian companies Rosneft and Lukoil, which coincided with the adoption of a new package of sanctions against the Russian energy sector. Brent crude rose about 4% to hit around $65 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude topped $60. Also read: Washington punishes the Russian oil sector, targets Rosneft and Lukoil. Samir Lakhani, managing director of Global Capital Partners, believes that any move that supports oil prices is in the interest of the stock market and the economy in the Kingdom in general, and not just the energy sector. He said during an intervention with Al-Sharq: “There is a close relationship between the Saudi economy and oil performance. Low energy prices were one of the reasons why the Saudi stock market lagged behind the region’s markets.” Results continue in relation to the quarterly results season. First Saudi Bank posted third-quarter profit that beat expectations, thanks to the improvement in asset quality and the decline in provisions. The stock rose slightly in early trading at 32.34 rials. In the same context, the quarterly profits of the Saudi investment bank increased at a negligible rate to 518 million riyals. The bank’s shares rose by 0.4% to 13.72 rials. Youssef Youssef, Director of Data Development at the “Arqaam” portal, believes that the results of the banking sector showed good growth in profits in light of a decrease in allocations at most of the declared banks. During an intervention with Al-Sharq, Youssef said: “After nine out of ten listed banks announced their results, the sector’s profit increased by more than 15%. The sector’s allocations overall decreased by 20%, which contributed to a large increase in profits, and this is a testament to the high quality of loans in the sector and its flexibility.” He added: “Market profit is generally good as it rose by around 12.5%. The biggest pressure comes from Sipchem, which suffered losses without which the rise would have been around 17%.” Sipchem shares continued to fall today for the second session in a row since the company announced a loss of 468.7 million riyals, which exceeded analysts’ expectations. “Ma’aden” rises to a new gold contract. Shares of the “Saudi Arabian Mining Company” (Ma’aden) rose 0.8% to 64.15 riyals after falling more than 4% in the last session. Today, the company announced the signing of a contract worth 391 million riyals to develop the Al-Rajum gold mine, which is expected to produce 3.6 million ounces within 12 years.