RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s main stock index TASI started the trading week higher as it saw a hike in some of its major stocks and investors braced for more earnings announcements. As of 10:25 a.m. Saudi time, TASI edged up by 0.4 percent to 12,229 points, whereas the parallel market Nomu traded 0.28 percent lower at 25,588 points. The Kingdom’s oil giant Aramco was up 0.95 percent amid trading of over 1.2 million shares, and one of its major petrochemical players, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. or SABIC, added 0.97 percent. This was further buoyed by a 0.54 percent increase in the share price of Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s largest valued bank. Shares in Saudi Automotive Services Co., known as SASCO, soared nearly 8 percent, topping the gainers for a third consecutive day. As they announced their earnings results for the year 2021, Saudi Arabia’s largest food chain, Herfy Food Service Co., and telecom firm Zain KSA were down 2.4 and 0.6 percent respectively, even as the former reported an earnings beat. Herfy Food Service reported a threefold rise in its estimated annual profit for 2021, while Zain KSA registered a 17.7 percent profit decline as pandemic-driven woes weighed on revenues. Early morning gains were in line with a rally in oil prices, recording seven-year highs on Friday. Brent crude oil surpassed $90 per barrel, and US benchmark WTI crude oil rose to $86.8 per barrel.