The Saudi stock market saw a significant setback on Sunday, passing through a lean session of 1.69 percent.

The benchmark Tadawul Index opened with a negative note and finally closed at 9,208.7, down 158.6 points for the entire session. It plunged to a maximum of 2.17 percent during the day.

Only Media and Telecommunication witnessed a positive change among sectoral indices, gaining 96.3 points jointly. Tihama Advertising and Public Relations Co. rose 9.89 percent, closing at SR119.5.

Remaining 13 sectors pared an aggregate of 2,125 points. Petrochemical Industries recorded the biggest losses, going down by 3.24 percent.

Transport and Industrial Investment sectors followed it, declining 2.66 percent and 2.09 percent respectively. Transport sector is still trading above the 10,000 points level.

Market breadth with advance-decline ratio of 0.2:1 remained extremely weak.

National Industrialization Company suffered worst of all Saudi companies, slipping 7.89 percent for the day to SR19.5.

Petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp. performed worst amongst big players, closing down by 3.97 percent. But it continued to pump more liquidity into the market, contributing SR910 million and closing at SR98.25.

On the other positive side, share price of new player Saudi Ground Services Co. (SGS) again rallied to a maximum daily gain of ten percent.

Market activity was 15-to-30 percent high when compared with previous level. Roughly 201 million shares worth SR5.5 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market.

Trading activity was led by Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate, which liquidated 43.5 million shares, a relative market share of 21.6 percent.