Saudi shares closed for a third consecutive session to break 7,500 closed points at 7480 points, and losing 32 points down 0.4 percent. This came amid the decline of most sectors and stocks.
The performance is consistent with the previous reports; where it was noted signs of weakness of the general trend and the inability of buyers to maintain the coherence of the market until their strength were exhausted. The selling forces overcame on the course of trading in the last minute before the closure of the market. This indicated the possibility of retreat in today's session to levels of 7464 points. Retreats remain secondary as the market is supportive of the uptrend in the medium term especially because of its accession to international indices, which appears to have stimulated even foreign investors to buy. Therefore, their net transactions reached about half a billion riyals last week, a record never before achieved.
Overall market performance
The index opened at 7513 points, trading between highs and lows. The highest point was at 7526 points with 0.17 percent, while the lowest point was at 7480 points with 0.44 per cent. At the end of the session, the general index closed at 7480 points, losing 32 points at 0.43 percent. Liquidity declined by 63 million riyals to 2.8 billion riyals by 2.2 percent, at a rate of 31.8 thousand riyals per transaction. While traded shares declined 6.5 million shares by 4 percent to 158 million traded shares, with a turnover rate of 0.83 percent. Transactions fell 2 percent reaching 87,000.
Sector performance
Five sectors rose and the rest were in decline. The "luxury goods segment" rose by 1 percent, followed by "Investment and Finance" by 0.47 percent, and "Food Retail" by 0.23 per cent. The decline was led by "Energy" by 1.67 percent, followed by "Real Estate Management and Development" by 1.66 percent, and "Commercial and Professional Services" by 1.27 percent. The highest turnover was "management and development of real estate" by 23 percent with a value of 633 million riyals, followed by "basic materials" by 22 percent with a value of 611 million riyals, and then "Banks" by 19 percent, amounting of SR 522 million.
Stocks performance
"Mabco" rose 4.4 percent to close at 22.01 riyals, followed by "Amanah Insurance" by 2.9 percent to close at SAR 23.02, and "salama" by 2.3 percent to close at SAR 26.24. On the other hand, "Dar Al Arkan" shed 6.2% to close at 9.10 riyals, followed by "Chemical" by 3.7% to close at 32.47 riyals, and then "Petro Rabigh" by 3.7% to close at 19.92 riyals.
"Dar Al Arkan" had the highest turnover of SAR 575 million (21 percent), followed by "SABIC" (8 percent) at SAR 231 million, and "AL-ENAMA" (8 percent) at SR 227 million.
* Economic Reports Unit
