RIYADH: Saudi bourse’s main index, TASI, ended the prior trading day slightly higher, buoyed by higher oil prices despite another spike in COVID-19 cases. TASI edged up by 0.3 to 11,357 points, and the parallel market Nomu lost 1 percent to reach 25,778 points. The Kingdom saw 2,585 COVID-19 newly confirmed cases on Tuesday, a report by the Saudi Health Ministry revealed. In line with Saudi, all fellow GCC indexes showed solid performance on Monday, except for Abu Dhabi’s ADI which was down 0.7 percent. Dubai led as its main index, DFMGI, rose by 0.8 percent. Next were TASI and the Qatari index QSI. The latter added 0.4 percent. Bourses of Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait were all up by nearly 0.2 percent. Elsewhere in the Middle East, the Egyptian index EGX30 gained 0.7 percent. In energy trading, oil prices are still on the high side even as Brent crude oil remained flat $79.97 a barrel while US WTI crude traded at $76.93 per barrel, as of 8:41 a.m. Saudi time. Stock news Kingdom Holding Co. has collected SR8.29 billion ($2.21 billion) from selling a 23.8-percent stake – half of its stake – in Four Seasons Holding to FS Washington Acquisition Corp. Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co. is to receive SR17.3 million from one of its buyers, as a Saudi court ruled in its favor following a fraud case in 2017 Alujain Holding Corp. has appointed Khalid Aldawood as chief executive officer effective Jan. 9, 2022 Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services Group has been awarded a 50-year lease contract worth SR32.5 million from Tabuk Municipality to set up a hospital Saudia Dairy and Foodstuff Co.’s, or SADAFCO, board has proposed cash dividends at SR3 per share for the first half of the fiscal year ended Mar. 31, 2022