9 things to consider as Tadawul starts trading

Here are a few things you need to know as Saudi stocks start trading on Monday.

1) Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB) has signed an agreement to buy shareholder J.P. Morgan International Finance Ltd.’s stake in the bank of 7.5 percent of capital, for SAR 759.3 million (SAR 13.50 per share) as treasury stock.

2) Advanced Petrochemical Co. (Advanced) subsidiary SK Advanced Co. Ltd. and PolyMirae Company Ltd. have signed a joint venture agreement to set up a polypropylene (PP) plant in South Korea.

3) Al Hammadi Company for Development and Investment (Al Hammadi) has extended its memorandum of understanding for the acquisition of equity stake in Sudair Pharma Company until August 31.

4) Arabian Aramco Total Services Co. has partially redeemed its sukuk with a payment of SAR 118.12 million, the company said in a statement.

5) Saudi Automotive Services Co. (SASCO) sold 6,240 fractional shares on June 7, 2018, at SAR 15.04 per share for a total of SAR 93,850, the company said in a statement.

6) Al Hammadi Company for Development and Investment decided to discontinue the discussions of the potential merger with the National Medical Care Company (Care).

7) The employment landscape in Saudi Arabia will be transformed as the Kingdom lifts the ban on women drivers, online recruitment firm GulfTalent said in a recent survey report.

8) OPEC and non-OPEC joint monitoring committee will consider the distribution of oil output increase quotas among the producers, KUNA reported, citing Kuwait's Energy Minister Bakhit al-Rashidi.

9) Crude oil prices fell on Monday on expectations of output increase that was agreed at the OPEC meeting in Vienna last week. Brent crude was last trading down 1.8 percent at $74.23/bbl, while WTI crude fell 0.3 percent to $68.39/bbl.

Write to Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com