RIYADH, July 2: Saudi Arabia will not open up trade in banking, insurance and real estate shares on its booming stock exchange to other Gulf Arab nationals for several months, the stock market regulator said on Saturday.

The Capital Markets Authority said a committee was looking into ways of implementing a ruling by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council to grant their citizens equal share ownership rights. The committee will meet over the coming months and “a date when Gulf citizens will be allowed to trade (in Saudi shares) will be announced when the necessary mechanism has been put in place,” the CMA said in a statement.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, comprising Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, plans a common market by 2007 and a single currency three years later.

For now, Gulf Arabs can buy Saudi shares in specific sectors, but banking and insurance remain off limits, as do initial public share offerings.

Saturday’s announcement follows a Saudi cabinet decision in April asking the CMA to take steps to grant Gulf Arabs equal rights to Saudis in owning and trading in shares.—Reuters