Saudi stocks ended a weekly five-week rally after closing at 7,521 points, down 17 points (0.23 percent) amid mixed sectors and equities. The closing came at a level that is close to the opening. This situation created a confusion among the traders against the factors supporting the rise in the current attractive returns and the positive performance of the profitability of companies especially the banking sector, and the low returns to profitability, and the market's proximity to international indices.
There are downside factors that threaten the continuation of the rally, as indicated in the previous weekly report. These factors includes the traders' preference to take profits to achieve capital gains after a long and good rally in which the index has gained more than 10% since November.
Weekly technical performance is negative and next week will confirm that negativity. If the market ended this week with a decline, it will enter a wave of declines may reach levels of 7250-7350 points, while the resistance 7585 points.
Markets' Performance
The index opened the week at 7540 points; it rose in two sessions and retreated in the rest. The highest point was at 7,040 points with 0.03 percent, while the lowest point was at 7471 points losing 0.9 percent. At the end of the session, the index closed at 7,521 points by losing 17 points, 0.23 percent.
The value of trading declined by 3.2 billion riyals, 18 percent, to reach 14.6 billion riyals at a rate of 33 thousand riyals. The volume of traded shares fell by 11 percent to about 839 million traded shares, at a turnover rate of 1.6 percent. Transactions fell 9 percent to reach 437,000 transactions.
Sectors' Performance
Six sectors rose while the rest were in decline. "Retail goods" led the rise by 3.6 percent, followed by "media" by 1.6 percent, and "media" by 1.2 percent. The downfall was led by "Food production" by 3.7 percent, followed by "property management and development" by 2.1 percent, and then "transportation" by 1.9 percent.
The highest turnover was "Basic Materials" (26%) of SR 3.8 billion, followed by "Real Estate Management and Development" (23%) of SR 3.4 billion and "Banks" (18%) of SR 2.6 billion.
Stocks' Performance
The highest rise was "Solidarity Takaful" that rose by 12 percent to reach 24.77 riyals, followed by "Tokyo Development" by 10 percent to reach SAR 24.33, and "Salama" came third with 10 percent closing at SAR 28. The downfall was led by "Dar Al Arkan," which was down 8 percent to reach 9.41 percent, followed by "Savola" by 5 percent to reach SAR 39.98, and "SADAFCO" by 5 percent to close at SAR 119.83.
"Dar Al Arkan" was the top performer with a 21 percent stake of SR 3.1 billion, followed by "SABIC" with 9 percent of SR 1.4 billion, while "Inma" was valued at SR 1.4 billion at 8 percent.
