Saudi bourse breaks through 7,000 barrier

Saudi shares closed slightly higher on Saturday, boosted by share-price increases for its biggest companies in the market's most important sectors.

The all-share index closed up 0.39 percent to 7,025 points. The closing point is short of a year-to-date high of 7,166 points on January 12, but is still up from the 6,855 points at which the market closed last year.

Saudi Arabia's largest listed bank, Al Rajhi, rose 0.72 percent, while the other main heavyweight, petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) was up 0.81 percent.

Saudi shares are strongly influenced by global stocks, which mostly performed well on Friday, and by energy markets. Crude oil prices closed flat on Friday.