The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) rose slightly (+0.1 percent) to 7,041.58 points yesterday, flip-flopping between green-red within a narrow range of 17.7 points.

The TASI improved its year-to-date gains to 3.53 percent.

Only micro cap indices closed the day a little lower.

Sectoral performance remained mixed, as eight out of Tadawul’s 15 sectors finished to the upside, accumulating 123 points for the day.

Media and Publishing came out as the best performing sector, advancing by 0.48 percent to 2,882.74.

Banking sector added 54.5 points, up 0.4 percent.

On the negative side, seven sectors including Insurance (-0.44 percent) — the biggest decliner of the day — went downward, trimming an aggregate of 80.7 points.

Four out of top 10 heavy weight stocks closed in the upward territory.

Al-Rajhi Bank and Saudi Telecom performed well relatively, achieving a daily growth of 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent respectively.

While, the heavyweight SABB suffered the greatest amount of damages, turning down 1.5 percent to SR33.5.

The total number of falling stocks exceeded to the total number of rising stocks by a margin of 70 to 63 and the prices of 23 companies remained unchanged.

Tadawul’s trading activity and performance was dominated by Northern Region Cement, which liquidated more than 36.8 million shares worth SR833.8 million to close the day at SR23.7.

It jumped to 9.72 percent for the day and remained as top gainer among all Saudi stocks.

Weqaya Takaful insurance and reinsurance also continued its upward march for the fourth straight day, surging 8.31 percent further and ranking second.