JEDDAH, 16 March 2008 — Saudi stocks continued to decline yesterday after suffering a fall of 92.78 points last week. Investors are also preparing to trade in Mobile Telecommunications Company Saudi Arabia (Zain), set for next week.
The Capital Market Authority (CMA) announced yesterday that the listing and trading of Saudi Arabia’s third GSM operator Zain would take place on March 22 in the telecommunication sector with an unrestricted price limit for the first day of trading only.
Zain had offered 700 million shares in the recent initial public offering (IPO), which was oversubscribed massively.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) plunged 196.08 points or 1.98 percent to close at 9,695.72 points yesterday.
Out of 113 companies traded, shares in 101 companies were in the red, while only six companies were in positive territory yesterday. The value of traded shares reached SR5.12 billion yesterday.
In the banking sector, shares in Bank AlJazira were down by 7.66 percent, Riyad Bank by 2.81 percent, The Saudi Investment Bank by 2.63 percent, Bank Albilad by 1.40 percent and Al-Rajhi Bank by 1.29 percent.
In the industrial sector, the only gainer yesterday was The National Company for Glass Industries. Its shares increased by 1.67 percent to SR60.75. Shares in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) fell 2.07 percent to SR177.25 yesterday.
Shares in Tourism Enterprise Co. (Shams) jumped 7.80 percent to SR38. Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) and Etihad Etisalat shares dropped 3.91 percent to SR67.50 and 1.53 percent to SR64 respectively.
In the insurance sector, shares in Malatth Cooperative Insurance and Reinsurance Company, Saudi Fransi Cooperative Insurance Company and Saudi IAIC Cooperative Insurance Co. were in black, while all other companies were in the red yesterday.
BMG Index Turnover Declines
The BMG Saudi Index started off this week on a negative note. The index fell 2.2 percent to 531.6 points yesterday. The market turnover, also moved down, by over 51 percent to SR2.3 billion ($611 million), versus SR4.7 billion ($1.3 billion), registered in Wednesday’s session.
All sectors in the index registered losses except for the electricity sector which went up by a marginal 0.1 percent. The telecommunications sector was the worst performer in yesterday’s session, down by 3.9 percent, to be followed by the services sector which declined by 3.4 percent. The agricultural, industrial, insurance, and banking sectors fell by 2.5 percent, 2.4 percent, 1.4 percent, and 1.2 percent, respectively.