- JEDDAH: Saudi shares plunged 5.46 percent to their lowest close in nearly five months, weighed by petrochemical and banking shares, after S&P downgraded the United States' credit rating.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) dropped to 6,073.44 points, its lowest close since March 16, after suffering its biggest daily decline since March 1.
"The market is being hit by the action of Standard and Poor's," Saudi economist Abdulwahab Abu Dahesh said.
The index has lost 8.3 percent so far this year.
The petrochemical index tumbled 6.66 percent and the banking index fell 4.74 percent.
"The Saudi market is strong ..., but it is correlated to US debt and debt in Europe and how it is handled," Abu Dahesh said, adding that the bourse may see fluctuations in the coming week.
The value of shares traded exceeded SR4.9 billion on Saturday compared to SR12.56 billion for the whole of last week.
