JEDDAH, 31 October 2006 — The Saudi stock market nose-dived yesterday with the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) plunging 473.99 points or 4.5 percent to close at 10,053.86. On Sunday the index closed at 10,527.85 points.
The Saudi stock market is trading under the new one-session hours — 11 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. — from Saturday.
Out of 82 stocks traded, shares of 81 companies dropped, while the lone gainer was Saudi Industrial Export Co. Its shares rose 2.02 percent to SR138.75.
Over SR11.62 billion worth of shares changed hands yesterday.
Reacting sharply to calls to exclude shares of state-owned corporations from the index, financial analyst Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Barrak vehemently opposed it. The calls came in a bid to stop the state-owned corporations such as Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) from deciding the movement of stock index.
“This is not a solution for the problems facing the market,” Barrak said, adding if we exclude them it will create additional problems.”
He said if the proposed system is implemented, it would reduce SABIC’s market value from 20 percent to nine and Saudi Telecom’s from 12 to five percent. At the same time, it would increase the market value of Al-Rajhi Bank from 14 to 20 percent.