The Saudi stock market recorded mild losses yesterday as the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed lower to 7,189.13, shedding 16.62 points or 0.23 percent for the entire day.

After falling over 33.8 points during the session it bottomed out at 7,171.94 points level and started to rise again but ended below the break-even line.

The market cap indices all closed the day in the negative zone.

Only five out of Tadawul’s 15 sectors witnessed a positive change, accumulating 156.2 points for the day. Remaining twofold sectors closed in the downward territory, trimming an aggregate of 361.9 points.

Retail sector with an upward jump of 1.22 percent remained prominent among sectoral indices, closing the day at 8,833.59.

On the other hand, Hotel & Tourism sector continued its downward fall for the second straight day, reducing further by 180.8 points or 1.56 percent to 11,394.58.

Most of major heavy weights suffered small losses, with SABB and Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co. (SAFCO) slipping 0.85 percent for the day.

The market breadth was largely negative, with 35 stocks showing advances and 102 others marking a decline.

Saudi Indian Company for Co-operative Insurance (Wafa Insurance) and National Agriculture Marketing Co. (Thimar) outperformed among all Saudi equities, reflecting an increment of 5.30 percent and 4.47 percent respectively.

Thimar with a turnover SR 270 million secured its position among the most liquid stocks, closing the day at SR 46.7 and ranking second.

On the contrary, Al-Ahlia Insurance Company recorded the biggest losses, going down by 4.93 percent to close the day at SR 67.5.

Tadawul Investors lacked buying interest yesterday, as the market’s volume went 16 percent below the 50-day average of 201.4 million shares.