Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index continued its upward march for the third straight week, advancing 0.43 percent further.
The Tadawul All-Share index (TASI) ended the week at 7,206.27 points, up nearly 31 points, from its previous weekend close at 7,175.36 points. Despite closing lower for three days during the week and trading sideways in a narrow weekly range of 47.78 points, the TASI delivered positive end results.
On year-to-date basis, the index showed a collection of 405 points or 5.96 percent.
The market capitalization of Saudi stock exchange reached to SR 1.45 trillion, increasing nearly half percent from the previous week's value. The market cap indices ended the week in mixed territories.
Sector indices also performed in a mixed fashion, with eight sectors accumulating an aggregate of 392 points and seven sectors paring 530 points collectively.
The Building and Industrial Investment were major winners among sectoral indices, which marginally increased by 1.74 percent and 1.37 percent respectively.
On the other hand, Hotel & Tourism suffered worst of all sectors, showing a reduction of 419 points or 3.53 percent to close the week at 11,448.16.
Most of heavyweights finished the week to the upside, with Al-Rajhi Bank rising by 1.9 percent, market leader SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) 1.7 percent and Saudi Telecom Co. 1.03 percent.
National Agriculture Marketing Co. remained significant advancer among the most active stocks, surging 7.9 percent for the week and capturing 3.6 percent of the overall market volume.
Weekly market breadth was slightly unfavorable, with 67 stocks witnessing advances and 80 others marking a decline. Furthermore, upside-downside volume ratio of 0.83:1 also remained slightly negative.
National Gypsum Co. and Arabia Insurance Cooperative showed the best performance among all Saudi equities, topping the weekly gainers chart with a positive change of 11.1 percent and 8.6 percent respectively. Al-Ahlia Insurance showing excessive losses of 10.6 percent became the major decliner, closing the week at SR65.
Market activity remained low last week; specifically 791.1 million shares worth SR 23.8 billion were liquidated at Tadawul. This turnover reflects a weekly decrease of 30.5 percent on volume basis and 17.5 percent in terms of value.
All major benchmark indices at GCC stock markets ended the week in green, with Bahrain Stock Exchange rose over 2.8 percent.
The benchmark GulfBase GCC General Index closed the week higher at 4,272.29 points level, adding 44.5 points or 1.05 percent for the entire week.
Market cap surges to SR1.45 trillion
