Saudi stocks up on the back of rising oil prices

Shares in Saudi Arabia rose in early trade on Monday, as oil prices bounced back after the country hiked prices for its crude sales in July.

The kingdom raised the official selling price (OSP) for its flagship Arab light crude to Asia to a $6.50 premium versus the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmarks, from a $4.40 premium in June. read more

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index (.TASI) advanced 1.1% led by financial stocks, with Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE) adding 1.6%, while Riyad Bank (1010.SE) was up 3.9%.

Anaam International Holding Group (4061.SE) topped the gainers with a 9.9% surge, extending the rally to a third consecutive session after it acquired 55% stake in ARW Industry Company.

Bupa Arabia (8210.SE) also gained 5.1% after the company announced annual dividend of 4.50 riyals a share ($1.20), an increase of about 32% compared with last year.

Brent crude firmed 68 cents, or 0.6%, to $120.40 a barrel at 0640 GMT after touching an intraday high of $121.95, extending a 1.8% gain from Friday.

The Qatari index (.QSI) gained 0.6%, led by a 1.2% increase in the Qatar Islamic Bank (QISB.QA) and a 1.6% jump in Sharia lender Masraf Al Rayan (MARK.QA).

In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI) dropped 0.4%, weighed down by a 1.8% fall in the country’s largest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB.AD) and a 0.4% drop in conglomerate International Holding Company (IHC.AD).

Dubai’s main share index (.DFMGI) eased 0.1%, with the blue-chip developer Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) losing 0.5% and top lender Emirates NBD (ENBD.DU) falling 0.4%.

($1 = 3.7508 riyals)Reporting by Mohd Edrees in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong

This article was originally published by Reuters.