Saudi stocks largely flat, SEC rises on potential SoftBank stake

Saudi Arabian stocks opened largely flat on Wednesday as gains by Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) were offset by declines for Zain Saudi and Middle East Healthcare.

SEC was one of the biggest gainers, rising by 4.5 percent in early trading after news on Tuesday that the kingdom will consider selling a large stake in the utility to SoftBank Vision Fund, the world’s largest private equity fund.

The Saudi government would retain a controlling stake, the utility said in a statement.

Public Investment Fund, which holds a 74 percent stake in SEC, signed a memorandum of understanding with SoftBank Vision Fund for SEC to develop 3 gigawatts of solar energy in 2018, SEC said in a statement.

Weighing on the Saudi bourse was Zain Saudi, which fell 4.9 percent after its board proposed a capital reduction to 3.62 billion riyals from 5.84 billion riyals to write off accumulated losses.

Zain Saudi swung to a third-quarter net profit of 3 million riyals, but missed forecasts of three analysts of 21.2 million riyals.

Middle East Healthcare, which posted a 39.8 percent third-quarter profit drop earlier in the week, fell 8.6 percent in early trading.

The Saudi stock index .TASI edged down 0.08 percent.

In Qatar .QSI, the index was down 0.2 percent, with Qatari Investors Group, the biggest loser, down 4.3 percent.

In Dubai, the main index .DFM dropped 0.5 percent, with Dubai Investments the top gainer, rising 6.0 percent, while the Abu Dhabi index .ADI edged down 0.2 percent. Source: Reuters