• Home
• /
• Business

Oman and Jordan bourses stay close

Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who will be crowned King of Saudi Arabia today, had already assumed day-to-day power after Fahd's stroke in 1995. Fahd died on Monday following years of worsening health.

"Many Arab markets have a lot of Saudi investment and the markets that closed are showing they respect those investors,'' said Motaz Irshaid, chief dealer at Atlas Investment Group in Amman.

The Bahrain exchange will resume trading on August 7, with Oman opening today, according to the bourses' web sites. Jordan's exchange will also open today, Irshaid at Atlas Investment said. No information was available on the Amman bourse's web page and no one answered the phone at the exchange.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark Tadawul All Share Index rose 1.3 per cent to 13,439.53 as 67 stocks advanced and eight fell as of 1:15pm in Riyadh, according to the exchange's web site. Companies traded on the benchmark have a combined market value of $506 billion, making Riyadh the largest Arab bourse.

The Tadawul stock index plummeted as much as 5.9 per cent on Monday after state television announced the king's death. It later rebounded, closing 0.6 per cent higher at 13,266.72.

World's best: Indexes in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Egypt and Jordan are the world's best performers this year among the 80 benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg worldwide. Stocks have climbed as higher oil prices spur investment and prospects for economic growth.

King Fahd, as ruler of Saudi Arabia after the death of half- brother King Khaled, tapped the world's largest oil reserves to bolster the royal family and bankroll poorer Arab states. The kingdom pumps more than 10 per cent of global crude supply.

Other Arab exchanges were open today including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt.