New Saudi King Seen Allowing Foreigners Into Stocks as Promised - Bloomberg

New Saudi King Seen Allowing Foreigners Into Stocks as Promised - Bloomberg:



"The new Saudi Arabian king’s pledge to maintain the oil-rich nation’s policies is giving money managers confidence that plans to open up the region’s biggest stock market to foreigners won’t be derailed by the royal transition.



Former monarch Abdullah -- who died yesterday at the age of 90 -- helped drive a 26 percent stock rally in the past four years with a $130 billion spending plan to boost non-oil industries. King Salman, his 79-year-old successor, said he will continue the strategy, while a royal decree signaled continuity in oil policy by affirming the minister won’t be replaced as part of the transition.



“King Salman is viewed as being pro-business and part of the reformist camp, which supports our expectation for no material change in policy,” Salah Shamma, co-head of equity asset management at Franklin Templeton Investments Middle East in Dubai, said by e-mail. Plans will be maintained, “most notably job creation and the long-term investment program, and policies to promote growth. We do not expect a change to plans to open up the market,” he said."



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