The BMG Saudi Index switched its performance; rising in yesterday’s trading session by 1 percent to 509.78 points after the fourth quarter of 2007 rebalance took place.
The market turnover, however, decreased to SR6.9 billion ($ 1.8 billion), down by 1.4 percent from SR7 billion ($1.9 billion) in Wednesday’s trading.
The rebalance of the BMG Saudi Index introduced 3 new sectors; the Banking sector, the Electricity sector, and the Telecommunications sector.
Only the Insurance sector ended the first trading session of this week on a negative note, declining by 5.4 percent, while the Electricity sector stood still. The best performer was the Services sector, rising by 2.6 percent, whereas the Telecommunications sector advanced by 1.8 percent.
The Industrial sector moved head by 1.2 percent, while both the Agricultural and Banking sectors went up by 1 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Seventeen shares saw their closing prices rise, while 7 shares dropped, and 6 stood still. The best performer was Emaar the Economic City, with a 7.1 percent increase to SR22.5 per share. The Saudi Arabian Cooperative Insurance Company, one of the newly added shares, was the worst performer, plunging 8.3 percent to SR79.75 per share. The new leading share, Al-Rajhi, as well as the other leading share SABIC, were on the gainers side, keeping the BMG Saudi Index up.