Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) posted a 27% rise in fourth-quarter net profit, meeting average analyst forecasts, driven by higher prices of petrochemical and plastics products.

The world's largest chemical firm by market value made a net profit of 5.81 billion riyals ($1.55 billion) in the quarter after 4.58 billion riyals in the fourth quarter of 2009, it said.

Analysts had forecast, on average, a net profit of 5.87 billion riyals, according to a Reuters survey.

"The rise in fourth-quarter profit ... is due to an improvement in prices in most of the petrochemical and plastics products as well as better operational performance," SABIC said in a bourse statement on Tuesday.

SABIC's earnings are a yardstick for rivals such as Dow Chemical and Germany's BASF. Fourth-quarter operating profit rose 29% to 10 billion riyals in the quarter, it said.