| Kippreport.com

Stocks news Middle East Saudi stocks close 0.9 percent lower

June 24, 2012 9:55 by Reuters

Saudi stocks close lower on Saturday, dragged down by losses in petrochemical and banking sectors.

The all-share ends 0.9 percent lower at 6,774 points and the petrochemical index ends 0.8 percent lower at 5,964 points.

Petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries corp (SABIC) closes 0.5 percent down.

The banking index slips 0.9 percent to 15,417 points, dragged down by losses in heavyweight Al Rajhi Bank which falls 0.7 percent.

Saudi shares open lower on Saturday weighed by losses to petrochemical and banking stocks after global oil and equity markets dipped on Thursday and Friday.

The all-share opens 0.6 percent lower to 6,795 points and the petrochemical sector opens 0.9 percent lower at 5,961 points.

Petrochemical bellweather Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) dips 0.8 percent in early trade.

The banking sector drops 0.6 percent to 15,466 points, dragged down by losses in heavyweight Al Rajhi Bank which drops 0.7 percent.

Brent oil futures hit an 18-month low on Thursday before rebounding to settle at $90.98 a barrel on Friday, a fall of 6.8 percent over the week.

U.S. shares slipped more than 2 percent on Thursday, the second-worst fall of the year, before gaining slightly on Friday.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Angus McDowall)

Tags: Banking sector, Middle East, Photochemical sector, Saudi Arabia, stocks