Friday 22 November 2013
The Saudi stock market recorded nominal gains on Thursday, as the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed higher to 8,337.78, adding less than half point for the entire day. After falling over 22 points earlier the index started a sideways walk and finally crossed the break-even line. Again market cap indices closed in mixed territories. Six out of Tadawul's fifteen sectors extended gains, reflecting an accumulation of 198 points.
Transport showed the best performance among all sectors, advancing more than one percent and closing at 5,931.03. On the negative side, nine sectors including Hotel & Tourism (-0.68 percent) -- the biggest decliner of the day -- went downward, trimming an aggregate of 230.7 points. SABB with half percent upward jump remained prominent among heavyweights. While, Kingdom Holding performed worst amongst heavyweights, closing the day lower 1.15 percent. The market breadth with advance-decline ratio of 0.6:1 remained unfavorable. Southern Province Cement Co. and Arriyadh Development Co. topped the performance chart at Tadawul, soaring up 4.2 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.
On the contrary, Yamamah Saudi Cement Co. continued its downward fall, showing a further reduction of SR 2 or 3.17 percent. More than 159 million shares worth SR4.1 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market. This turnover reflects an increase of 27.4 percent on volume basis and 13.7 percent in terms of liquidity. But still this turnover remained 18 percent below the 50-day average level. Alinma Bank appeared to be the most active stock for the day, liquidating 19.6 million shares, which equates 12.3 percent of overall market volume. The value of these shares totaled SR285 million, a relative market share of 7 percent.
© Arab News 2013
