Saudi Arabian shares extended gains for a ninth day after a local bank signed a deal to accelerate home loans and the US jobless rate slid to the lowest. Stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index increased 1.05 percent to close at 6,733.68 points Saturday boosted by gains in the banking and petrochemical sectors after oil prices rose Friday. Bank Albilad shares jumped the most in more than three years after Saudi Arabia's second-smallest lender by market value signed a deal with the government to accelerate home lending. Albilad's shares gained as much as 10 percent, the largest intraday increase since October 2008, to SR24.75. The Riyadh-based bank signed an agreement with the state- run Real Estate Development Fund, which will help expedite home lending in the Kingdom, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported Feb. 2. US crude, down for the last five sessions due to rising domestic oil and gasoline supplies, rose $1.48, or 1.5 percent, to finish at $97.84 per barrel. Shares in petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) gained 1 percent in early trading while the banking index rose 0.4 percent to 15,119 points. In London, gold soared to a two-month high Friday and other metals hit similar peaks on better-than-expected manufacturing figures in Asian powerhouse China and also in the eurozone. Gold hit $1,763.15 an ounce – which was the highest level since December 2 but still below the record peak of $1,921.15 that was struck Sept. 6. However, it tumbled to as low as $1,733.35 Friday after the latest NFP report. By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold rose to $1,764 an ounce from $1,726 the previous week. Silver gained to $33.93 an ounce from $33.48. On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum increased to $1,630 an ounce from $1,608.
