All you need to know before the trading week on the Saudi bourse

All you need to know before the trading week on the Saudi bourse

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s stock market closed March higher, despite investors fretting over Russia’s war in Ukraine, which sent oil prices on a rollercoaster ride. The main index, TASI, rose 3.9 percent on the month to 13,090 points. As for the parallel market, Nomu, it closed almost unchanged at 25,010. TASI also witnessed a record high as it crossed 13,000 points for the first time since 2006, amid a strong earnings season for most major players. In Thursday’s session, most Middle Eastern bourses were either flat or nudged higher, but Qatar’s QSI shed 0.2 percent. Stock exchanges in Dubai, Egypt, and Oman closed almost flat, while Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi advanced between 0.1 and 1 percent. Oil prices retreated at Friday’s close, with Brent crude reaching $104.39 per barrel, and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate hitting $99.27. Saudi oil giant Aramco awarded a one-year contract to Walaa Cooperative Insurance Co. to provide insurance coverage on energy, property, motor, marine, and others Yamama Cement Co. obtained financing worth SR1.66 billion ($443 million) to improve financial efficiency, increase production capacity in a Riyadh plant, and finance working capital requirements Saudi Cable Co., Advance International Co. for Information Technology, and Obekian