JEDDAH: Saudi shares jumped 2.5 percent, driven by heavyweight Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and food firm Savola, which posted better-than-expected second-quarter results. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed up 2.54 percent at 5,774.72 points. All the sectors contributed to Saturday’s gain, ranging from 0.35 percent by the Agriculture & Food Industries to 5.70 percent by the Multi-Investment sector. Market breadth remained strongly positive with 111 advancers against 14 decliners giving an AD ratio of 7.92, backed with an increased liquidity of SR5.8 billion, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said on Saturday.
“With the positive reports from Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase in the US, we did expect to see some strength and a relative improvement in investor confidence. Although Saturday’s gains were limited, we do see a notable improvement in liquidity. As expected during summer months, movement is less volatile and has become strongly dependant on global, and particularly US market trends, the FTH said in its market commentary.