RIYADH: The Saudi stock exchange opened lower on Thursday amid worries over a surge in COVID-19 cases in the Kingdom, despite resilience in the oil market. The Saudi Health Ministry confirmed 3,045 new cases in the Kingdom on Wednesday, up from only 34 on Dec. 1. As of 10:23 a.m. Saudi time, both the main and parallel indexes – TASI and Nomu – edged down by 0.5 percent to reach 11,397 and 25,226 points, respectively. Early morning losses were pushed by declines in some of the Kingdom’s biggest players, with the oil giant Aramco down 0.4 percent, reaching SR35.6 ($9.5). Saudi’s largest bank by market cap, Al Rajhi Bank went down by 0.3 percent to SR142, and the Saudi National Bank edged down 0.73 percent. SABIC, Batic Investments and Logistics Co., and Saudi British Bank, or SABB, were among the highest decliners, down 1.2, 3.2, and 1.2 percent, respectively. Red Sea International Co.’s stock surged 4 percent upon inking an extension contract with oilfield services company Schlumberger to support its oil drilling operations in the Eastern region. Shares in Saudi Real Estate Co., known as Al Akaria, rose 2 percent to SR21 after it purchased a SR727 million land in Riyadh for infrastructure development. In energy trading, Brent crude settled near $80 per barrel, while US WTI crude oil reached $77 per barrel after OPEC+ sticked to plans to boost output in February and unrest broke in Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest oil producer.