TASI rises 2% as Al Rajhi Bank hits 10-year high

Saudi Arabian equities edged higher on Sunday, boosted by sharp gains in banking stocks after businessman Ahmed bin Suleiman Al-Rajhi was named the country’s Minister of Labor.

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) jumped 2.1 percent to close at 8,330 points, with volumes at SAR 4.9 billion.

“Today's movement is definitely correlated with the new ministerial positions,” Issam Kassabieh, senior financial analyst at Menacorp, told Argaam.

Investors believe that the new labor minister may be able to put in place measures to ease the pressures of an expensive labor market, along with bringing down unemployment in the country, Kassabieh said.

“You can see the impact (of the news) across the entire banking index,” Kassabieh said. “It is also moving other sectors as well that have been suffering from high labor costs.”

All 12 banks closed positive. Al Rajhi Bank rose 5.2 percent to close at SAR 89.9 – the highest in 10 years.

Samba Financial Group rose 4.7 percent to SAR 30.35; Alinma was up 2.1 percent at SAR 21.5; and Banque Saudi Fransi gained 3 percent to close at SAR 34.

Maaden also touched 52-week high, before easing down to close flat at SAR 59.1. Maaden’s CEO Khalid Bin Saleh Al Mudaifer has been appointed vice energy minister for mining.

Dairy producer Almarai erased previous session losses, rising 8.5 percent to SAR 57.5.

On the other hand, SABIC declined nearly 1 percent to SAR 129.2. The stock had jumped 4.3 percent on Thursday.

To contact the writer, email Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com