RIYADH: Amid last week’s dominating theme of initial public offerings and dividends, Saudi stocks soared to end the trading week higher as investor sentiment boosted.

Saudi Arabia’s main stock index, TASI, last closed at 11,271 points, up 111 points from a week earlier and up 30 percent year-to-date, marking its biggest annual leap since 2010.

With the latest gain, TASI has almost fully recovered after reaching a four-month low on Nov. 30, 2021 – four days after the new omicron variant was declared a “variant of concern”.

The hike came in line with Gulf countries since all GCC main stock indexes ended the previous trading session in green territory.

The UAE’s index DFMGI closed 0.6 percent higher, followed by Abu Dhabi’s index ADI and Oman’s MSX30 which rose by 0.4 percent each.

Bourses of Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain all saw trivial gains between 0.1 and 0.2 percent.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, the Egyptian index EGX30 went up by 1 percent.

Brent crude oil retreated $0.71, or 0.92 percent, to $76.14 per barrel on Friday, while US WTI crude was up 1.42 percent to $73.79 per barrel.

Stock news:

• SISCO and Amiantit are considering converting their subsidiary, Tawzea, into a private joint-stock company to prepare it for a potential listing on the parallel market Nomu
• Batic Investments and Logistics Co., or Batic, rights issue trading was 84.6 percent subscribed. The rump offering period will start on Dec. 28 and end on Dec. 29, 2021
• Al Moammar Information Systems Co. has obtained the necessary approvals and licenses to start developing its limited liability subsidiary –MIS FORWARD – for which Abdullah Al-Ghamdi was appointed chief executive officer of Excellence
• Bawan Co. received a SR9.6 million credit note from the insurance company as reimbursement for a fire incident at one of its production sites in Dammam
• Wataniya Insurance Co. received confirmation regarding the earlier agreement between the Saudi British Bank, or SABB, and the PWI Holding Co. to sell the bank’s entire stake in Wataniya at SR80 million
• Somou Real Estate Co. signed a contract worth SR20.7 million to construct the first phase of the Souq Al-Nafe’ project with Saif Al Janoub Contracting Co.