JEDDAH, 16 August 2005 — The Saudi stock market suffered a minor fall yesterday after surging to record close on Sunday. The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) dropped 91.64 points or 0.64 percent yesterday to close at 14, 255.53 points.
Despite slight decline, financial analysts, however, believed that the market would continue its upward march in the coming months, banking on soaring oil prices. Abdullah Al-Qasim, a stock market expert, attributed the recent unprecedented market growth to the increasing trend of Saudis to invest in stocks in addition to rising oil prices and strong position of Saudi companies. “In my opinion, the growing awareness of Saudis on the stock market is the main reason that pushed the index further in recent days. Oil prices are only a supplementary factor,” he explained.
Moussa Al-Dossary, an economist, said the good performance of Saudi companies during the past three quarters of the year also played a big role in encouraging investors to put their money in stocks. He said the index would cross 15,000 points within three months as a result of skyrocketing oil prices in world market.
Out of 76 stocks traded yesterday, only 18 symbols were trading higher and 54 were down.
All the indices were lower yesterday. The Industrial sector index was down 408.69 points or 1.09 percent at 37,209.14. The Banking sector closed at 32,295.10, down 93.78 points.