coaster rise, the Saudi stock market posted another loss Saturday as investor fears persist about the financial crisis triggering global recession. The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) dived almost six percent to a four-year low and finished down 5.94 percent at 5,794.87 points, its lowest level since mid-2004. Trading value reached SR7.7 billion, a little more against the last 3 trading days. The volume of shares traded reached 342 million shares in around 190 deals. Fourteen of the market's 15 sectors fell, with an 8.5 percent drop in the key petrochemicals sector. Constructions fell by 9.3 percent and retails by 8.9 percent. In trading, 118 listed firms dipped with only seven firms rising. “We need a miracle to cure our market,” said one worried investor in a Tadawul lounge at a local bank here. The new decline came despite statements by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) on Thursday that it was ready to inject more than $93 billion into the Kindgom's banking system. The banks index dropped by 4.8 percent. It also came despite a number of companies announcing impressive results. Saudi Fertilizers Co. announced a 155 percent rise in nine-month profits and Saudi British Bank posted a 19 percent rise. TASI suffered turbulence in the trading week ending on Thursday, cut to three day by a religious holiday, and dropped 17.4 percent. The bourse in the world's top oil exporter is the largest in the Middle East, but with capitalization having been slashed to around $300 billion from about $450 billion at the end of last year. The TASI is currently down 47.5 percent from the 2007 close. Stock markets in other Gulf states sustained heavy losses last week. The declines were led by the market in Dubai, which nosedived by about 25 percent. Gulf economists have attributed the slide in the Gulf markets to panic from the impact of global financial turmoil that has strongly shaken investor confidence and led to a wave of sell-offs. They also said investors were worried over the fate of Gulf foreign investments, estimated at $2.5 trillion. “Our economies are solid and have been growing at high rates. Our banking system is insulated and largely not exposed to the global financial system,” prominent Saudi economist Ehsan Bu-Hulaiga said. “What we have been seeing is a reaction to the global crisis. Its surprising to see share price of good companies with excellent profits slide. Its panic and lack of confidence,” he told Investors, however, called for wide-ranging and unprecedented actions of the government to protect their investments. “There is nothing we can do now but wait and be optimistic until the fever breaks,” said Mirza Mahdi Jawad, a long time investor. Opposed to global panic selling, Saudi investors believed that it would be a good time to buy stocks now as the index dived to a new low. Banks should buy falling stocks to ensure pumping liquidity contributing to the recovery of the stock market, Jawad said. __
