Tadawul index marches upward

The Saudi stock market continued its upward march and managed a third straight rise yesterday, accumulating 14 points further.
The Tadawul All-Share Index went 18.3 points down earlier yesterday but subsequent trading sent it higher to 7,176.88 points level, up 0.2 percent over the previous close.
The trading range expanded to 41.7 points as compared to 35.8 points of previous day.
On YTD basis, it has regained a growth of 5.52 percent.
For the day, only Micro Cap indices went downward slightly.
Seven out of Tadawul’s fifteen sectors ended positively, showing a collection over 400 points.
Real Estate Development stepped up to occupy the top position among sectoral indices, posting a solid growth of 2.4 percent to finish at 3,898.73. Taiba Holding Company, Jabal Omar Development and Knowledge Economic City were key gainers in this sector, surging by 7.61 percent, 3.95 percent and 2.26 percent respectively.
Hotel and Tourism sector was another significant advancer which gained 1.4 percent further.
On the other hand, eight sectors lost an aggregate of 94 points yesterday.
Telecommunication & Information Technology sector suffered worst, going down by 0.81 percent.
Most of heavyweights closed in green, with bellwether SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) outdid rest of its peers, advancing more than one percent to SR97.5.
The market breadth with advance-decline ratio of 0.66:1 remained slightly unfavorable.
ACE Arabia Cooperative Insurance led the top gainers chart at Tadawul, soaring up 8.44 percent and closing at SR83.5.
Market activity remained roughly 12 percent greater than previous level.
More than 202.6 million shares worth SR5.96 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market.