Tadawul stocks rise for eighth day

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s stock market, known as the Tadawul, rose for an eighth straight day in active trade on Sunday, climbing above technical resistance, as sentiment was helped by hopes for an end to the conflict in Yemen.
Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Saturday he was ready for a “new page” in ties with the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen if it stopped attacks on his country, in a move that could pave the way to end nearly three years of war.
The Saudi stock index gained 1.2 percent to 7,089 points on Sunday. It rose above resistance around 7,000 points, which has capped the market since mid-October and roughly coincides with the 200-day average, now at 7,014 points.
A clean break of the resistance — two straight daily closes — would point up to around 7,250 points, according to the height of the former downtrend channel dating back to mid-October.
“Recently the main force affecting the market has been geopolitics — it’s not surprising that the market rises when the outlook appears to improve,” said Hisham Tuffaha, vice president for asset management at Mulkia Investment in Riyadh.
Rising stocks outnumbered losers by 173 to nine. Four of the 10 biggest percentage gainers were cement stocks, long beaten down by the slump in the Saudi construction industry; they could benefit if Yemen starts to rebuild, fueling demand for cement.
The Saudi market has also been buoyed in recent days by easing worries about the impact of authorities’ crackdown on corruption, as some detained suspects reach settlements with the government and the number of frozen bank accounts falls after exceeding 2,000 at one stage.
A monthly Reuters poll of leading Middle East fund managers, published on Thursday, showed them on balance positive toward Saudi Arabia; 46 percent now expect to raise allocations to Saudi stocks in the next three months and none to cut them, the most bullish bias since July.