Tadawul index remains above 7,000 points

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s benchmark Tadawul All-Share Index fell 1.3 percent on Monday to 7,167 points.
But it remains above the psychologically-important level of 7,000 points, having rallied from a 35-month closing low of 6,881 in mid-November.
Al-Tayyar Travel Group rose 0.3 percent to SR74.25, although this was SR2 below its mid-session peak.
The company announced before trading that it had bought 60 percent of local online hotel-booking company Almosafer for SR22.5 million ($6 million).
Most Middle East markets fell on Monday as oil prices sank to their lowest in nearly seven years, spurring stock selling on the bourses of the region’s energy producers.
Dubai’s index dropped 2.2 percent to its lowest close since December last year, although property and telecom stocks helped Abu Dhabi’s bourse edge up 0.3 percent.
“Local sellers led the market lower today,” said Julian Bruce, head of institutional trading at Dubai-based EFG Hermes, adding there were no market catalysts to generate buying demand.