Foreigners turn net buyers of Saudi stocks as shock of graft purge fades

DUBAI (Reuters) - Foreign investors turned net buyers of Saudi Arabian shares in the last week, suggesting concern about the impact of a sweeping crackdown on corruption has faded, exchange data showed on Sunday.

Foreigners were net sellers of Saudi stocks for four straight weeks after authorities launched the purge in early November, detaining dozens of top officials and businessmen and freezing over 2,000 bank accounts.

In the last couple of weeks, however, the risk of damage to the economy has appeared to ease, with the number of frozen accounts falling and some suspects reaching settlements with the government. A purchasing managers' survey showed most of the private sector operating as normal in November.

Foreign investors bought 718 million riyals ($191 million) worth of stocks in the week through Dec. 7 and sold 674 million riyals worth, resulting in 44 million riyals of net buying.

In the week to Nov. 9, immediately after the crackdown was announced, there was net selling of 1.08 billion riyals worth of shares, and net selling decreased in every week after that.

The latest data also showed Saudi individual investors bought stocks worth 17.53 billion riyals last week and sold 19.21 billion riyals, resulting in net selling of 1.68 billion riyals, down from net sales of 2.19 billion riyals in the previous week.

Saudi institutional investors bought 2.83 billion riyals of stocks in the latest week and sold 1.31 billion riyals, for net buying of 1.52 billion riyals.

(Reporting by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Greg Mahlich)