Saudi shares returned to weekly gains to offset losses and closed at 7,562 points with 150 points gain of 2 percent. The positive performance came in support of most sectors, where banks had a greater role in supporting the rise of the index. The week ended above 7550 points to reinforce the positive outlook for the market next week with an increase of access or exceed 7700 points.
The positive moves in the light of the new data on the banks to find solutions to the Zakat, which accounts for about a quarter of bank profits last year, was a pressure factor on the sector. The visit of the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to Britain and the resulting agreements to promote trade and investment between the two countries is a catalyst for the long term. It is because of that trade and investment require the benefit of banking services to support their activity. In addition, the announcement of the local index joining the FTSE Russell Emerging Markets Index would bring in return more foreign liquidity to the market. The market in a bullish direction that would face resistance at 7700 points, while the support was at 7450 and 7360 points.
Overall market performance
General index opened at 7411 points, fell in two sessions and rose in the rest.
The highest point was 7565 points, winning 2 percent, while the lowest point was at 7336 points, losing 1 percent. At the end of the week, it closed at 7562 points with gains of 2 percent by about 150 points. Trading values rose 1.4 percent by about 221 million riyals to reach 16.4 billion riyals, while the average value of the deal is 37 thousand riyals. While traded shares fell by 9% to about 60 million shares traded to reach 624 million shares, with a turnover of 1.2%. Transactions fell 5 percent by about 23,000 to reach 440,000 transactions.
Sector Performance
Four sectors retreated versus the rest. The rise was led by "Media" that rose by 4 percent, followed by "food fragmentation" by 4 percent, and "pharmaceuticals" by 3.2 percent. The decline was led by "real estate traded funds" by 0.86%, followed by "health care" by 0.61%, and "energy" by 0.5%. The highest turnover were "Basic Materials" by 31 percent with a value of 5.1 billion riyals, followed by "banks" by 31 percent with a value of 5 billion riyals, and "insurance" by 8 percent with a value of 1.3 billion riyals.
Stock performance
The rise was led by "Bupa Arabia" that rose 11 percent to reach SAR 87.62, followed by "Saco" by 10 percent to reach SR 123.20, then "Saudi Steel Pipes" by 8.8 percent to reach SAR 17.23.
The decline was led by "Musharaka REIT" that rose 5.6 percent to close at SAR 9.12, followed by "Cisco" by 3.8 percent to close at SAR 12.99, and "Alinma Tokyo M" by 3.8 percent to close at SAR 23.09.
The highest turnover was "Alinma" by SR3.3 billion (20%), followed by "SABIC" with SR3.2 billion (20%), and "Al Rajhi" with SR1 billion (6%).
* Economic Reports Unit
