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Saudi shares rose for a fourth consecutive session to gain one point and close at 7,842 points, the highest level since August 2015. Despite the decline of most stocks, the improvement of the prices of the most important "leaders" contributed to the decline of other stocks and kept the market in the Green Zone. But, liquidity declined and the market lost most gains during the session, and negative signals show weakness of the current upward trend. The weakness comes despite the FTSE-Russell announcement that the domestic index of its emerging markets index is on the rise. It shows a decline in risk appetite after the market reaches the current price levels. Resistance levels were at 7870 points, while support was at 7825-7800 points.

Overall market performance

The general index opened at 7840 points, trading between high and low. The highest point was at 7870 points, 0.38 percent, while the lowest point was at 7828 points, 0.15 percent. At the end of the session, the general index closed at 7842 points, with a slight gain. Liquidity declined 13 percent by about 68.4 million riyals to reach 4.4 billion riyals and the average value of the deal was 42,000 riyals. While traded shares fell 12 percent by about 25 million shares to reach 187 million traded shares, with a turnover rate of 0.36 percent. Deals fell 10 percent by about 12,000 to reach 105,000 deals.

Sector performance

Eight sectors rose against the rest. The rise was led by "real estate traded funds" that rose 1.5%, followed by "media" by 1.4%, and "communications" by 1.3%. While the decline was led by "consumer services" that dropped 1 percent, followed by "commercial and professional services" by 0.96 percent, and "long-term goods" by 0.96 percent. The main turnovers were "Basic Materials" of 40 percent, amounting to 1.8 billion riyals, followed by "banks" of 19 percent at 826 million riyals, and "real estate management and development" of 16 percent at 708 million riyals.

Stock performance

The highest gains were "Taleem RIET" by 9.5 percent to close at 11.76 riyals, followed by "Nadec" by 4.9 percent to close at 39.38 riyals, and "Al Jazira Riet" by 4.4 percent to close at SAR 16.32. On the other hand, the decline was led by "Red Sea" that was down 3.4 percent to close at 17.86 riyals, followed by "APC TASI"with 3 percent to close at 13.23 riyals, and "Buruj TASI" with 2.6 percent to close at 33.37 riyals.

"Dar Al Arkan" had the highest turnover of SAR 620 million, followed by "Safco" by 11 percent with a value of SR 509 million, and "SABIC" with a value of SAR 442 million, 10 percent.

* Economic Reports Unit​