Saudi stocks higher on housing plan, oil supports petchems

Saudi Arabia’s stock index was headed for its fourth session of gains early Thursday after the country’s housing ministry announced plans to build over one million homes, while oil’s recent rally helped petrochemical shares.

Dar Al Arkan was on course for its third session of strong gains, with its shares climbing 4.2 percent. The stock had jumped its daily limit for two consecutive days, after the developer said late on Tuesday it was in talks with the government to provide housing under the kingdom’s economic reform plan. It did not give further details.

The Saudi government published a five-year National Transformation Plan (NTP) on Monday, part of a wider set of reforms launched in April as “Vision 2030”.

One facet of the plan, which sets targets for government agencies and includes spending on new initiatives across various sectors, includes building 1.5 million homes over the next seven or eight years, the housing minister said at a press conference in Jeddah late on Wednesday.

Majed al-Hogail said the kingdom would offer foreign and local property developers partnership deals in a vast housing construction programme to reach that target.

Emaar Economic City, another company that said it was in talks with the Housing Ministry, dropped 0.3 percent on profit taking after jumping more than 6 percent over the last two days.

The Gulf’s largest dairy producer Almarai added 2.3 percent after announcing its board had approved a new five-year business plan for 2017-2021. Under the plan, Almarai is targeting the deployment of capital investment worth 14.5 billion riyals ($3.87 billion) during the period.

Brent prices held near their 2016 high over $52.50 a barrel, helping lift the petrochemicals sector. Mid-sized producers led gains, with Alujain Corp up 1.8 percent.

The main index was up 0.3 percent after 20 minutes of trade.

Source: Reuters