* Ahmed Al-Rasheed from Riyadh
Saudi stocks rose for the seventh consecutive session, to close at 8416 points, gaining 115 points by 1.4 percent, while the MT30 index increased by 19 points, 1.6 percent, to close at 1196 points. The auction period contributed to increasing the market gains, as it reached 36 points during the auction, with transactions worth 271 million riyals. Most sectors closed higher, improving the market's performance with liquidity activity of around 30 percent. The market has approached the target levels at 8450 points that were mentioned in the weekly report of Saudi stocks, as these levels constitute an important resistance at which the selling pressure increases, as the market trades at an average of 200 days, and the market’s success in overcoming these levels and stability above them will remove it from the downward path that It started since May at 9400 points, and this will boost the morale of dealers and increase risk appetite, which improves the performance of the market during the coming period.
Overall market performance
The general index opened at 8300 points, and headed towards the highest point in the session at 8416 points 1.4 percent, and closed with gains of 115 points. Liquidity rose 30 percent by about 1.2 billion riyals to reach 5.2 billion riyals, at a rate of 27 thousand riyals per transaction, while traded shares increased 27 percent by about 46 million traded shares to reach 219 million traded shares, and the turnover rate of free shares reached 0.39 percent. As for the deals, they increased by 13% by about 22,000 deals to reach 192,000 deals.
Sectors performance
All sectors rose, except for "food segmentation", which fell by 0.14%, and the rise in "commercial and professional services" 4.55%, followed by "media and entertainment" 3.8%, and "communications" by 1.9%.
The highest turnover was "energy" 22 percent, with a value of 1.2 billion riyals, followed by "basic materials" 21 percent with a value of 1.1 billion riyals, and thirdly, "banks" 18 percent with a value of 939 million riyals.
Stock performance
The highest shares were issued "Salama" by about 9.93 percent to close at 11.96 riyals, followed by "Arab Insurance" 9.93 percent to close at 16.60 riyals, and third "abundance" 9.88 percent to close at 12.90 riyals. On the other hand, the decline was led by "Saudi Ceramics" 3.2 percent to close at 35.80 riyals, followed by "mineral" 2.4 percent to close at 15.28 riyals, and thirdly, "Anaam Holding" 2.2 percent to close at 12.26 riyals.
The highest turnover was "Aramco" with a value of one billion riyals, followed by "Al-Rajhi" with a value of 291 million riyals, and third "SABIC" with a value of 285 million riyals.
*Economic Reports Unit
