Nine-day surge ends at Tadawul

After nine consecutive days of trading in the green, the Saudi stock market took a reversal yesterday, dropping a few points merely.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) opened with a negative note yesterday and spending most of the session in the downward territory closed just below the break-even line at 7,642.24 points level. It traded within a range of 36.3 points, trimming nearly 3.41 points or 0.04 percent for the entire day.
The market cap indices closed the day in mixed territories.
Saudi sector indices also performed in a mixed fashion. Seven out of Tadawul’s 15 sectors finished to the upside, accumulating 186 points for the day.
Multi-Investment and Real Estate Development came out as the best performing sectors, advancing by 1.7 percent and 1.2 percent respectively.
On the negative side, eight sectors slipped from previous day’s level, paring an aggregate of 266 points. Hotel & Tourism sector was a significant decliner, shedding 0.76 percent for the day.
Most of heavyweights finished to the downside, with Samba Financial Group dipping by 1.97 percent, Riyad Bank 1.39 percent and SABB 1.25 percent.
The Kingdom Holding, however, turned in a splendid performance among large caps, surging exactly four percent. The company has also been able to occupy the place at top gainer chart, closing at SR 19.5, and ranking fifth.
The market breadth was almost balanced with 60 issues witnessing advances against 62 issues recording declines.
Arabian Shield Cooperative Insurance and Halwani Brothers stepped up to occupy the top positions at Tadawul, soaring up 9.61 percent and 9.17 percent respectively. Tadawul volume went slightly up and traded 261.8 million shares as compared to previous day’s 260 million shares.
Saudi Mobile Telecommu-nications Co. (Zain) continued its most active status, rising over four percent. Its volume set sold about 75.4 million shares, a relative market share of 28.8 percent.