JEDDAH, 8 January 2007 -- The Saudi stock market suffered massive losses in 2006. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed at 7,933.29 points at the end of 2006 as compared to 1,6712.64 points for the previous year. The index dropped by 52.53 percent. The highest close for the index during the year was 2,0634.86 points on Feb. 25, 2006, according to Saudi Arabian Equity Market Annual Review -- 2006 released by the Tadawul on its website on Saturday.

The market capitalization at the end of the year reached SR1,225.86 billion ($326.9 billion) and decreased by 49.72 percent compared to the previous year.

The total value of shares traded for the year 2006 reached SR5.26 trillion ($1.40 trillion) compared to SR4.14 trillion ($1.10 trillion) for the previous year, posting an increase of 27.14 percent.

The total number of shares traded for the year 2006 increased by 343.27 percent to 54.44 billion compared to 12.28 billion for the previous year. The total number of transactions executed during the year jumped 106.2 percent to 96.10 million compared to 46.61 million trades for the previous year. The daily average of value of shares traded in 2006 rose 43.45 percent to SR19.86 billion compared to SR13.84 billion for the previous year. The daily average of number of shares traded during 2006 increased by 400.14 percent to 205.43 million compared to 41.07 million shares for the previous year.

The daily average number of transactions increased by 132.63 percent to 362.63 thousand compared to 155.88 thousand transactions for the previous year.

Sectoral Activity

In term of volume of shares traded, services sector was the most active sector in 2006, the number of shares traded for the sector has reached 20.06 billion shares representing 36.8 percent of the total volume traded during the year.

The value of shares traded and the number of transactions for the year were led by the industrial sector amounting to SR2.12 trillion and 36.74 million which represent 40.4 percent and 38.2 percent respectively of the total market.

Stocks Activity

With respect to stocks activities during 2006, Anaam Holding led the market in term of numbers of transactions that reached 3.34 million, followed by Yanbu National Petrochemical company (YANSAB) and Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) that witnessed 3.07 million and 2.88 million transactions respectively.

In term of volume of shares traded, SEC led the market with 5.19 billion shares traded during the year, followed by Annam Holding (4.13 billion) and Arriyadh Development Company (1.76 million).

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) was the market leader in terms of value of shares traded and has shown a turnover of SR230 billion. The two other most active stocks were SEC (SR204.67 billion) and Annam Holding (SR172.25 billion).

New Listings

On Feb. 20, 2006 YANSAB was listed (with a paid up capital of SR5.625 billion divided into 112.5 million shares). The company offered 39,375 million shares at SR50 per share.

On March 14 Aldrees Petroleum &Transport Services Co. was listed (with a paid up capital of SR200 million divided into 4 million shares). The company offered 1.2 million shares at SR185 per share.

On May 15 Saudi Research and Marketing Group was listed (with paid up capital of SR800 million divided into 80 million shares). The company offered 42 million shares at a price of SR46 per share.

On June 14 Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co. was listed (with paid up capital of SR240 million divided into 24 million shares). The company offered 7.2 million shares at a price of SR62 per share.

On Oct. 7 the Emaar Economic City was listed (with a paid up capital of SR8.5 billion divided into 850 million shares). The company offered 255 million shares at SR10 per share.

On Nov. 4 Red Sea Housing Services Co. was listed (with a paid up capital of SR300 million divided into 30 million shares). The company offered 9 million shares at SR58 per share.

On Nov. 11 Saudi International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem) was listed (with a paid up capital of SR1.5 billion divided into 150 million shares). The company offered 45 million shares at SR55 per share.

On Dec. 12 Al-Babtain Power & Telecommunication Co. was listed (with a paid up capital of SR270 million divided into 27 million shares). The company offered 8.1 million shares at SR40 per share.

On Dec. 23 Fawaz Abdulaziz Al-Hokair Co. was listed (with a paid up capital of SR400 million divided into 40 million shares). The company offered 12 million shares at SR110 per share.

Saudi stocks, however, dropped 192.19 points or 2.41 percent to 7,776.99 on Sunday after rising 35.89 points to 7,969.18 on Saturday, the first day of trading in 2007. The market was closed last week for Eid Al-Adha holiday.

There were 86 companies trading last year.

By Khalil Hanware

© Arab News 2007