07/08/2010
Improvement in the petrochemical sector
Profit-taking tactics keep TASI volatile
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) gained 0.54 percent last week, closing at 6,300.44 points.
Saudi shares were volatile last week due to conflicting reports about world recovery that prompted investors to resort to profit-taking tactics to avoid any unforeseenlosses, analysts said.
On a week-to-week basis, the sector activity was positively biased with 10 out of 15 sectors closing with gains ranging from 0.10 percent by the Cement sector to 3.98 percent by Industrial Investment sector and Multi-Investment sector.
The losing sectors on the other hand ranged from 0.21 percent by the Banks & Financial Services to 2.35 percent by the Media and Publishing sector, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its weekly market commentary.
Saudi analysts said TASI's success to remain above the 6,200-point area for weeks was indicative of fresh rallies, barring any unforeseen negative developments on the world scene.
The value of Saudi traded shares also surged to SR13.60 billion last week compared to SR12.84 billion in the previous week.
Trade Union Cooperative Insurance Company was the top gainer last week as its shares jumped 22.59 percent to SR20.35. Saudi Industrial Services Co. shares edged higher by 17.27 percent to SR14.60.
The top loser for the week on the other hand was Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) as its shares dropped 4.83 percent to SR37.
The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said that “the way BlackBerry services are provided currently does not meet the regulatory criteria of the commission and the licencing conditions,” in a statement carried by state news agency SPA, As CITC has reported the three service providers more than a year ago STC , Mobile and Zain on the need to work with the manufacturer of the Blackberry devices to speed up the response in order to meet the regulatory requirements.The services will be banned until its demands are met, the commission added, but without elaborating on its conditions.
The performance of Saudi stock market was positive in July. According to Tadawul's monthly report for July, the TASI closed at 6,283.73 points, gaining 189.97 points or 3.12 percent over the close of June.
On an YTD basis, TASI registered a positive return of 2.65 percent or 161.97 points.
The Tadawul report said, total equity market capitalization at the end of July reached SR1.23 trillion ($328.67 billion), increasing by 2.84 percent over the previous month.
The total value of traded shares, however, fell by 29.77 percent to SR54.57 billion ($14.55 billion).
