KUWAIT, April 5: The Kuwait Stock Exchange rose 3.2 per cent to a new record high at the start of the trading week on Saturday, fuelled by reports of a US thrust into the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The index of the Arab world’s second largest stock exchange ended at 3,031.2 points, up 94.2 points from the close of the previous trading week on Wednesday.

The United States said its troops thrust towards central Baghdad on Saturday, reporting only sporadic resistance.

Brokers said the Kuwait Stock Exchange has been hitting new highs every day since Monday on news of progress in the US-led war to topple President Saddam Hussein, whose forces invaded Kuwait in 1990 and occupied it for seven months.

We expect the war to come to an end soon, said dealer Nasser al-Nasser.

Kuwaiti companies, which have signed contracts with the U.S. and British military or which hope to play a role in the reconstruction of Iraq after the war, had pushed the whole market up, brokers said.

Portland Cement Company rose 100 fils to 1.460 dinars ($4.86). There are 1,000 fils to the dinar.

Transport firm Kuwait and Gulf Link, which brokers say has won US military contracts rose 50 fils to 830 fils.

The Kuwaiti bourse, which has a total capitalisation of about $30 billion, gained 39 per cent last year.—Reuters