Gulf stock markets closed the week in the red as investors preferred to take profits following weeks of successive gains, financial analysts said Friday. They expected regional markets in the coming weeks to retain their linkage to the movement of oil prices and performance of global markets. Saudi stocks were volatile this week with the market's Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) facing strong resistance as it approached the 6,900-point area, analysts said. TASI shed 2.3 per cent this week, closing at 6,730.12 points down from last week's close at 6,890.74 points. However, analysts painted an optimistic picture for Saudi stocks in the light of what they described as impressive first quarter earnings. “The first quarter results provide an indication that Saudi stocks have surpassed the fallout of the world financial crisis,” Saeed Al-Shaikh, chief economist at the Ahli Commercial Bank, said. He expected the Saudi stock exchange to extend profits in the remaining part of the year, led by the petrochemical and banking sectors. A report released this week reflected a jump of 63 percent, or $4.6 billion, in the profits of listed Saudi companies in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period of 2009. Crude prices and what happens at global markets will continue to serve as key factors to reckon with in anticipating the dynamics of the regional markets. Kuwait's KSE all-share index shed 1.8 per cent this week as investors became wary of a plan by the authorities to set up a capital market authority, Jassem Zeraei, head of brokerage at the NBK Capital, said. “The Kuwaiti market is dominated by speculation with hot money always obsessed with fears of losses,” he said. The benchmarks of the United Arab Emirates stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi plunged 3.4 percent and 1.4 percent this week to close respectively at 1,755 points and 2,817 points.
