Saudi Stocks Stable despite Decline in Oil Prices

Saudi Arabia's stock closed at a limited decline of 1.3 percent ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. (AFP)
Saudi Arabia's stock closed at a limited decline of 1.3 percent ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. (AFP)
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Saudi Stocks Stable despite Decline in Oil Prices

Saudi Arabia's stock closed at a limited decline of 1.3 percent ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. (AFP)
Saudi Arabia's stock closed at a limited decline of 1.3 percent ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday. (AFP)

Last week's oil prices saw a drop of up to 10 percent, as Saudi Arabia's stock closed at a limited decline of 1.3 percent ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Despite sharp declines in oil prices, the Saudi stock remained strong due to several reasons, most notably the remarkable flow of cash of foreign investment in Saudi companies listed in the local market, which pushed foreign investors' ownership rates to achieve new records on a weekly basis.

So far, 162 companies listed in the Saudi stock market have announced their financial results for the first half of 2019. Compared to same period of 2018, 83 companies reported a positive improvement, while 79 announced a drop in profits and 39 reported losses.

Listed companies continue to announce their financial results for Q2 of 2019, and the rest of the companies are expected to announce their financial results after the Eid holiday. The deadline for announcing results ends on August 21.

The Saudi index dropped 1.3 percent during last week's trading to close at 8,550 points.

Market trading is expected to resume its activity on August 18 after the Eid holiday, which starts on Sunday.

As of Thursday's closing time, the Saudi stock revenues since the beginning of the year were around 9.24 percent, which is good compared to the performance of the global financial markets in the past few weeks, which witnessed a wave of declines.

The value of public and private assets of investment funds in Saudi Arabia registered a new leap during Q2 2019, amounting to $86.1 billion, compared to $82.6 billion in Q1 of the same year.

According to Saudi Capital Markets Authority (CMA), the value of public and private fund assets jumped 4.1 percent in the Q2 2019. The value of the private investment funds assets grew by 3.5 percent and the value of public fund assets grew by 5.3 percent.

The value of the assets of private investment funds amounted to $52.5 billion at the end of Q2 2019 compared with $50.6 billion in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the value of assets of public investment funds amounted to $33.6 billion by the end of Q2 2019 compared with $31.9 billion in Q1 2019.

According to the CMA, the investment fund includes a set of securities that are selected according to specific criteria that meet the objectives of the investment funds, including the public and special funds.

Profits of the investment funds come usually from capital gains, which are the profits resulting from the improvement or change in the prices of the securities invested in addition to dividend profits, if any, for securities.



Gold Jumps, on Track for Best Week in Over a Year on Safe-haven Demand

FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
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Gold Jumps, on Track for Best Week in Over a Year on Safe-haven Demand

FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo

Gold prices rose over 1% to hit a two-week peak on Friday, heading for the best weekly performance in more than a year, buoyed by safe-haven demand as Russia-Ukraine tensions intensified.

Spot gold jumped 1.3% to $2,703.05 per ounce as of 1245 GMT, hitting its highest since Nov. 8. US gold futures gained 1.1% to $2,705.30.

Bullion rose despite the US dollar hitting a 13-month high, while bitcoin hit a record peak and neared the $100,000 level.

"With both gold and USD (US dollar) rising, it seems that safe-haven demand is lifting both assets," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Ukraine's military said its drones struck four oil refineries, radar stations and other military installations in Russia, Reuters reported.

Gold has gained over 5% so far this week, its best weekly performance since October 2023. Prices have gained around $173 after slipping to a two-month low last week.

"We understand that the price setback has been used by 'Western world' investors under-allocated to gold to build exposure considering the geopolitical risks that are still around. So we continue to expect gold to rise further over the coming months," Staunovo said.

Bullion tends to shine during geopolitical tensions, economic risks, and a low interest rate environment. Markets are pricing in a 59.4% chance of a 25-basis-points cut at the Fed's December meeting, per the CME Fedwatch tool.

However, "if Fed skips or pauses its rate cut in December, that will be negative for gold prices and we could see some pullback," said Soni Kumari, a commodity strategist at ANZ.

The Chicago Federal Reserve president reiterated his support for further US interest rate cuts on Thursday.

On Friday, spot silver rose 1.8% to $31.34 per ounce, platinum eased 0.1% to $960.13 and palladium fell 0.6% to $1,023.55. All three metals were on track for a weekly rise.