Saudi bourse maintained the upward trajectory Monday with the stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index inching up 0.08 percent at 7,539.7 points - new 41-month closing high. The market traded SR16 billion ($4.27 billion), the largest turnover since February 28's SR16.1 billion, which was a four-year high. Small-caps, real estate and insurance stocks dominated volumes. Dar Al Arkan gained 4 percent and Emaar Economic City jumped 7.7 percent, together accounting for about a quarter of all shares traded. “What's happening now is speculators are trading stocks with prices close to SR10 but it's nothing fundamental,” said Hesham Abo-Jamee, chief executive officer at Bakheet Investment Group. “These stocks are cheap by value, but not by valuations.” However, the insurance index slipped 0.3 percent. Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi index gained 1.1 percent to 2,615 points even as the Dubai index slipped 1.1 percent to 1,667 points. Qatar benchmark eased 0.03 percent to 8,634 points. Kuwait measure also eased 0.07 percent to 6,150 points. Oman index gained 0.3 percent to 5,902 points, a fresh seven-month high. Bahrain measure eased 0.03 percent to 1,150 points. In Egypt, the second-biggest listed property developer, Palm Hills dragged down the main index 1.5 percent after reporting a 68 percent drop in 2011 sales revenue. In New York, US stocks close flat Monday ahead of a Federal Reserve policy board meeting that analysts hope will provide a better picture of the US economy's direction. At the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 37.69 points (0.29 percent) to 12,959.71. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.22 points (0.02 percent) to 1,371.09, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 4.68 points (0.19 percent) to 2,983.66. Gold futures slipped as investors bet that disappointing Chinese trade data foreshadowed a drop in the country's demand for the precious metal. The most actively traded gold contract, for April delivery, fell $11.70, or 0.7 percent, to $1,699.80 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
