Saudi market crash hits millions [market capitalization cut by half since the end of last year]

AFP ^ | Dec 29, 2006

[jdm]

Riyadh -- The Saudi stock market closed one of the most turbulent years in its history, ending 2006 down 52.53 per cent under strong correction pressure following seven years of continuous rise. The market, the largest in the Arab world, has seen its capitalisation cut by half since the end of last year and as much as $500bn wiped off the market’s peak value of more than $800bn.

The Tadawul All-Shares Index (Tasi) closed on Wednesday, the last trading day of the year, below the 8,000-point psychological barrier on 7,933.29 points, sharply down from its 2005 closing of 16,712.64 points and below the 2004-close of 8,206.23 points. But it remains slightly above this year’s worst level of 7,665.73 points reached on December 3.

The Tasi has shed 61.5 per cent since it set its historical high of 20,634.86 points on February 25 when it began its nosedive. “The slide had been widely anticipated after the sharp increases in the index that made the prices of most stocks highly overvalued. Speculators have greatly contributed to the collapse,” Ali Al Dakkak, head of Dakkak Economic Consultants, said. Dakkak said that lack of regulations and transparency made the slide more painful.

Correction forces defied government attempts to induce confidence in the sagging market, including decisions to split shares and allow foreign residents to trade directly on the bourse. The rise in the Saudi bourse was spurred by abundant liquidity due to the sharp increase in oil prices. The Tasi has been rising since 1999, but its pace accelerated in 2003 when oil prices began to climb.

Between the end of 2003 and February 25 this year, the Tasi increased almost five-fold. Last year, the index rose 103.66 per cent. The crash in the Saudi market has affected millions of citizens, mostly small investors who rushed to invest in the market in the hope of making quick gains. Dakkak estimates that as many as two million Saudi investors and their eight million family members have been hit hard by the bourse slide.

The market capitalisation dropped to around $320bn from end-2005 value of $660bn, despite the listing of nine new companies. On February 25, the value topped $800bn. The only factor that rose this year was the turnover which shot from $1.1 trillion in 2005 to $1.4 trillion at the end of 2006.

[upcountryhorseman]

I don't think they have a central bank: their religion doesn't allow paying interest.

[Moonman62]

The Saudi monarchs are as corrupt as anybody. The link to their central bank.

http://www.sama.gov.sa/indexe.htm

[LibWhacker]

Your ignorance is showing....very badly.

Hardly. But yours is. And your reading comprehension is appalling.