Saudi Arabia’s benchmark Tadawul All-Share Index turned red on Thursday, slipping more than one percent.

The TASI wavering along the break-even line abruptly changed its direction toward downside during mid of the session and finally closed in the red territory at 8,458.72 points, down 93.21 points over the previous close.

Most of the sector indices ended negatively, paring an aggregate of 1,208 points. Only three sectors including Agriculture & Food Indus-tries showed nominal gains.

Banks & Financial Services sector posted the largest losses, falling 2.31 percent or 443 points and trimming back the 19,000-mark. Transport was another significant declining sector, going down by 2.17 percent.

Top ten heavy weights closed in mixed fashion. The market leader SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) rose 1.44 percent to close at SR 78.37. On the contrary, Al-Rajhi Bank dropped 5.3 percent to SR 53.79.

Decliners outnumbered the advancers by a huge margin of 118 to 31.

Saudi Arabian Cooperative Insurance and Herfy Food Services Co. dominated the top gainers chart at Tadawul, soaring up 7.44 percent and 5.27 percent respectively. Herfy is trading near its four-year high.

On the other side of the spectrum, Bank AlJazira suffered the greatest amount of damages, turning down 8.91 percent and closing at SR27.18. But bank volume (12.8 million shares) went 4.72 times high over its 50-day average.

Only Middle East Specialized Cables Co. witnessed a positive change among most active stocks, gaining 3.7 percent and liquidating 10.7 million shares.

Alinma Bank with a turnover of 41.4 million shares worth SR842.3 million secured its most liquid status, capturing 14.1 percent of the market volume.

Tadawul total turnover set sold around 294 million shares worth SR 8.0 billion, a five percent decrease as compared to previous level.