Saudi stocks open flat as investors locked in gains: Opening bell

Saudi stocks open flat as investors locked in gains: Opening bell

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s stock market opened flat amid the earnings season, as investors stepped back to lock their gains after a multi-day rally. As of 10:20 a.m. Saudi time, the main and parallel indexes, TASI and Nomu, traded at 12,208 and 25,216 points, respectively. Shares in Saudi chemical giant SABIC were flat after it reported a massive increase in 2021 net profit of 32,800 percent, reaching SR23 billion ($6.13 billion). Oil giant Aramco edged 0.14 percent higher, and Al Rajhi Bank booked 0.27 percent of gains. Further in the financial sector, the Kingdom’s biggest lender, the Saudi National Bank, or SNB, declined by 0.27 percent despite hitting a record closing high of SR74.9 earlier this week. SNB reported an increase in profit of 10.7 percent in 2021 from a year ago. Alinma Bank was up 0.34 percent amid trading of 776,112 shares. Seera Group Holding and Aseer Co. led the gainers in early trading, both up over 2.3 percent. Seera Group Holding said it entered a SR170 million joint venture with AlUla Development Co. to operate Clarion Hotel. In energy trading, Brent crude reached $89.3 per barrel, and US benchmark WTI crude oil neared $88 per barrel as of 10:16