Saudi Shares Climb After Oil, Global Stocks Rise, Paced by Sabic, Al Rajhi - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabian’s benchmark stock index rose the most in almost two weeks, driven by petrochemical companies and banks following an advance in U.S. and European stocks and the price of oil, the kingdom’s main revenue earner.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s largest petrochemical maker and Al Rajhi Bank, the biggest publicly traded lender in Saudi Arabia, lifted the Tadawul All Share Index the most since July 11. The benchmark rose 1 percent to 6,149.37 as of 1:03 p.m. in Riyadh, the highest intraday level since July 20.

“A general feeling-good factor is pervading,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi in Riyadh. “It is based on overall thin volumes as oil is above $78, global markets performed well over the past two days.” The volume of shares traded on Tadawul was 57.2 million as of 1:09 p.m., compared with this month’s daily average of 107 million.