02/05/2010
Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed at 48.82 points
Saudi shares ended 0.71 percent higher on Saturday as a rally in the oil price boosted petrochemical and banking stocks. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 48.82 points higher at 6,916.79.
Shares in heavyweight Al-Rajhi Bank gained 0.90 percent at SR83.75. The Saudi Investment Bank shares surged 9.12 percent to close at SR19.75.
The sector activity was widely positive with 13 out of 15 sectors making gains.
The Insurance and Telecommunication & Information Technology sectors were the only losing sectors with losses of 0.60 percent and 0.78 percent respectively. The gaining sectors however ranged from Building & Construction with 0.23 percent to Multi-Investment with 2.36 percent gains. The overall market breadth for the day remained positive with 88 advancers against 32 decliners giving it an AD ratio of 2.75, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily market commentary.
The banking index ended 0.84 percent higher at 17,502.43 points on Saturday.
The petrochemical index gained 1.14 percent, with shares in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) closing 0.71 percent higher at SR105.75. Nama Chemical shares increased 8.61 percent to SR11.35. Saudi International Petrochemical Co. and Advanced Petrochemical Co. shares edged higher by 4.33 percent and 3.72 percent respectively.
The stock market turnover was over SR4 billion on Saturday.According to Tadawul's monthly report, released on Saturday, at the end of April TASI closed at 6,867.97 points, a gain of 66.96 points (0.98 percent) over the close of the previous month. On a YTD basis, TASI registered a positive return of 12.19 percent.
The highest close level for the index during the month was 6,929.40 as on April 26.
The report said total equity market capitalization in April reached SR1.35 trillion ($360.75 billion), increasing by 0.59 percent over the previous month.
The total value of shares traded reached SR87.48 billion ($23.33 billion) in April, increasing by 24.30 percent over the previous month.
The total number of shares traded in April increased by 18.98 percent to 3.47 billion compared to 2.92 billion shares traded in March.
The Tadawul report said the total number of transactions executed during April reached 1.71 million compared to 1.63 million trades for the month of March, increasing by 4.65 percent.
