Saudi Arabia’s stock market extended gains in early trade on Wednesday after the kingdom indicated it was confident about growing demand for oil, while Egypt pulled back slightly.

The main Saudi index edged up 0.3 per cent and petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries was the main support, adding 0.8 per cent.

National Industrialization Co (Tasnee) and Saudi Industrial Investment Group, which also have assets in the petrochemicals sector, climbed 1.7 and 1.6 per cent, respectively.

Saudi Arabia had raised the official selling prices for its oil deliveries to Asia and the United States on Tuesday, in the latest signal that OPEC’s largest exporter is seeing signs of stronger demand. The prices of many petrochemical products are linked to the oil price.

Al Hassan Ghazi Ibrahim Shaker Company rose 0.7 per cent after signing a memorandum with South Korea’s LG Electronics to discuss cooperation in supplying advanced power reactor components for new nuclear power plants in the kingdom.

Property stocks down

Meanwhile, Egypt’s stock index slipped 0.1 per cent as some property stocks pulled back after rallying in the previous session on reports that the government would soon approve a $80-billion project to build a new capital city.

SODIC fell 0.6 per cent and Heliopolis Housing was down 0.3 per cent.

Investment firm Pioneers Holding jumped 2.1 per cent after its chief executive Walid Zaki told Reuters that the company planned to make three more acquisitions this year in the food and real estate sectors.

This week, the company won a $33-million takeover bid for Egyptian cheese maker Arab Dairy, beating out a subsidiary of Lactalis, Europe’s largest dairy group.

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