Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia shares rose the most in almost a week, led by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation as oil prices gained on bets shrinking US stockpiles signal demand will increase in the world’s biggest crude consuming nation.

Saudi Basic advanced 1.9 %. Arab National Bank, Saudi Arabia’s sixth largest publicly traded lender by assets, gained for a third day this week. The Tadawul All Share Index climbed 0.6% to 6,088.25 close in Riyadh bringing the increase this week to 0.8%. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index gained 0.5%.

Mr Asim Bukhtiar an equity analyst at Riyad Capital said that “Investors are taking cues from international markets as there haven’t been any significant announcements locally. In the second half of Ramadan, volumes usually taper off.”

Saudi Arabia, the Arab region’s largest economy, holds 19% of the world’s proven crude oil reserves. Oil for September delivery rose 2.2% to USD 88.52 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Dubai. The commodity has gained 17% in the past 12 months.

The industry funded American Petroleum Institute said that gasoline supplies slid the most in almost 5 months. An Energy Department report was to show on Wednesday may show crude supplies slipped 500,000 barrels and gasoline stockpiles dropped 1.2 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. About 83 million shares traded on Saudi Arabia’s exchange today compared with 12 month daily average of 165 million shares.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)