RIYADH: Shares of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., known as SABIC, rose 1.98 percent to SR123.2 ($32.9) as of 11:35 a.m. Saudi time Shares rose in response to the company announcing the start of pre-commissioning activities at a China plant in partnership with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. Sinopec. As of recently, SABIC reported a 33 percent surge in first-quarter profits, propelled by 40 percent growth in sales to SR53 billion.