Saudi Arabia changes weekend

Saudi Arabia will shift its weekend to Friday and Saturday from next week, taking the biggest Arab economy a step closer to opening its US$400 billion stock market to foreign investors.

Government ministries and monetary agencies will adopt the new weekend from June 29, aligning Saudi Arabia with the other five Gulf Co-operation Council countries, a royal decree on Sunday said.

The decision was taken based on "the economic position of the kingdom and its international and regional obligations", it said. The Saudi weekend has been Thursday and Friday.

"Investors can read between the lines and see this as another step towards opening up the market," said Fadi Al Said, a senior fund manager at ING Investment Management. "It's not official, but this is one of the things Saudi needed to do to open the markets for foreign investors."

Deutsche Bank and HSBC are among banks that have predicted the kingdom's stock exchange, the largest in the region, may open to foreigners as early as next year amid rising demand for assets.

Such a move might attract as much as US$30 billion of inflows, John Burbank, the founder of US hedge fund Passport Capital, said in February.