Saudi shares advance on bets drop overdone

Shares rose in Saudi Arabia, Opec’s biggest oil producer, as crude posted its first weekly gain since April and investors bet declines prompted by Europe’s debt crisis were overdone. Kingdom Holding Co, the Saudi company controlled by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, climbed 3.8%, the most in more than two months. Al Rajhi Bank, the kingdom’s largest lender by market value, rose 1.4%, while Saudi Basic Industries Corp, the world’s biggest petrochemical maker, known as Sabic, gained 0.3%. The Tadawul All Share Index rose as much as 1.4% before gaining less than 0.1% at 6678.15 at the 3.30pm close in Riyadh. The gauge lost 4.5% last week, its fifth weekly slide. “Investors realise that the measure’s drop was exaggerated, so the market is correcting itself,” said Turki Fadaak, Riyadh-based head of research at Albilad Investment Co. “The measure was falling because of what’s happening in Europe, not because of anything fundamental in Saudi Arabia.” Oil rose 1.1% last week to $84.10 a barrel in New York on June 8, the first five-day gain since the week ending April 27. Oil prices have fallen about 15% in 2012. Gulf oil exporters, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, supply about a fifth of the world’s oil. Kingdom Holding climbed to 10.9 riyals after its Kingdom Hotel Investments unit sold its stake in Movenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket for $90mn to Crystal Caliber Sdn Bhd, a unit of Malaysia’s TA Global Bhd.from gulf times.