Saudi Arabia plans sukuk, bonds market - regulator

The Saudi stock market regulator has approved setting up a market for debt securities, it said on Saturday, responding to a long-standing demand by some firms to diversify sources of financing amid tight credit conditions.

The Capital Market Authority's (CMA) decision is part of its "continunous and gradual effort to develop the Saudi capital market", it said in a statement posted on the bourse's website.

The Saudi stock exchange - Tadawul - has already developed the market, which will trade bonds and sukuk Isamic bonds through licensed intermediaries, CMA said. The date of the market's launch will be announced later, it added.