Insurance sector declines 1.77%

The Saudi stock market passed through a lean session yesterday, taking signal from other GCC equity markets.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (TASI) fell to 7,500.69 points yesterday, showing a reduction of 60.81 points or 0.8 percent for the entire day. The index slipped into red territory earlier and plunged to a maximum of 75 points during the day.
Still its year-to-date collection remained nearly seven hundred points.
All market cap indices finished to the downside, with Large cap falling over 0.8 percent.
Samba Financial Group, Al-Rajhi Bank and SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) performed worst among large caps, declining 1.3 percent, 1.05 percent and 0.82 percent respectively.
Sectoral performance was negative, with 13 sectors paring an aggregate of 527.8 points.
Insurance came out as the biggest decliner, shedding 1.77 percent to close the day at 1,201.49. Real Estate sector followed it, declining 1.32 percent and closing at 4,620.30. Banking sector also trimmed nearly 172 points, down 1.05 percent.
Only Media and Transport sectors remained unharmed yesterday, advancing more than half percent.
Market breadth was in favor of bears as out of 156 stocks only 23 were able to close higher.
Salama Cooperative Insurance dominated the performance among all Saudi equities, topping the gainer chart with 9.41 percent positive change. Food Products Co. was another significant advancer, rising by 5.13 percent.
On the other hand, Allianz Saudi Fransi Cooperative Insurance turned red, reversing after a 5-day surge and dropping 9.9 percent for the day.
Tadawul volume set sold approximately 218 million shares, a decrease of 21 percent as compared to previous level and 13 percent below the 50-day average of 250 million shares.
Most active stocks also showed a negative change, with Emaar the Economic City going down by 1.98 percent, Dar Alarkan Real Estate 1.89 percent and Zain 1.48 percent.