JEDDAH – Saudi shares closed narrowly higher Saturday as the stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index ended 0.2 percent higher on 6996.72 points. The petrochemical index rose 0.42 percent to 5994.93 points while the banking index also closed higher, rising 0.08 percent. US stocks climbed Friday, pushing the Nasdaq to a 12-year closing high and the S&P 500 index to a five-year high as stronger trade data lifted optimism. Crude oil prices closed mixed Friday as investors weighed a big supply in the US, encouraging trade data from China and renewed tensions with Iran. New York's benchmark contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery, settled 11 cents lower from Thursday at $95.72 a barrel. In London trade, Brent North Sea crude for March leaped $1.66 to settle at $118.90 a barrel. "The WTI crude oil market is exceedingly well-supplied," said Tim Evans, an analyst at Citi Futures. Compared with a year ago, Evans said, US crude oil stockpiles were 9.6 percent higher and oil production was up about 22 percent, providing an additional 1.27 million barrels a day of production. "WTI crude oil price is not following the Brent market higher because there is no bullish case for WTI crude oil, there is no reason for it to rally," he said. A massive blizzard barreling down on the heavily populated US northeast also may have weighed on WTI, Evans said, because it "will tend to suppress end-use consumption, with flight cancellations, less driving activity and power outages that shut off home furnaces." WTI had opened the trading session higher, joining Brent in welcoming robust trade data from China, the world's biggest energy consumer. Official data released Friday showed China's trade surplus rose 7.7 percent year-on-year to $29.2 billion in January. – SG/Agencies
