The Saudi stock market grew by a record 28 percent in the first quarter of 2005, posting a massive increase of 103 percent. The Saudi stock index closed at 10,499 points in comparison to 5,182 points for the same period in 2004, setting a new benchmark with a historical increase of 103 percent as it hit 10,853.94 by Wednesday, March 30. The market value of the stocks issued by the end of the first quarter of 2005 closed up at SR1.47 trillion ($392.2 billion) increasing by 112 percent compared with the market value for the first quarter of 2004. Total Market value of the stocks traded in the first quarter of 2005 reached a record of SR491.3 billion ($ 131 billion) compared with SR261.7 billion for the same period in 2004, gaining 88 percent. The total number of stocks traded in the first quarter of 2005 was 1.8 billion stocks, down from 2 billion stocks traded in the first quarter of 2004 registering a fall of 17 percent. "However, total transactions in deals for the first quarter of 2005 reached 4.6 million transactions compared with 1.9 million for the first quarter of 2004, showing an increase of 143 percent," according to a business report published today by Arab News.
