13/03/2011
Tadawul jumps over 3%
Saudi shares rose over 3 percent on Saturday on the highest volumes in more than a year.
Regional political instability weighed down markets in the Gulf over the past few weeks.
The petrochemical sector led the climb, gaining 3.1 percent with trade volumes reaching 94.5 million shares while the all-share gains 3.1 percent to 6,297 points with 324 million shares changing hands, according to Reuters data.
The sector activity for the day was all positive. The gaining sector ranged from 0.85 percent by the Cement sector to 7.29 percent by the Multi-Investment sector. the overall market breadth for the day was positive with 141 advancers against 4 decliners giving it an AD ratio of 35.25, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) — licensed by the Capital Market Authority — said in its daily market report.
The stock market for the day reached SR6.89 billion.
"We have not seen that (trade volume) since 14 June 2009," said a Riyadh-based analyst, adding that he expected the petrochemical sector to continue its rise in the coming weeks as investors seize opportunities after large drops in stock prices.
"We dropped after (the revolt in Egypt) and the second drop was the political issue in the region. Now we are back to almost the same level... Most probably we will be above 6,000 to 6,400 in the next two or three weeks, the market will try to stabilize," he said.
Shares in Kingdom Holding Co. climbed 9.4 percent after its Chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's said he had invested over SR500 million in the market over the past two weeks and was ready to spend a similar amount later.
