Saudi market cap rises 4.47% to SR1.56 trillion

The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) gained more than 5 percent last month and a leading analyst predicted on Sunday that the Saudi stock market would attract more liquidity in the next few months.
John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at Masic in Saudi Arabia, said: “Barring external market corrections or geopolitical events, the Saudi market should perform well during the rest of the year.”
He told Arab News: “There is plenty of liquidity waiting to enter the market even if valuations have been elevated over the last few weeks and despite the fact that net income increased by 4.7 percent YoY in Q2, 2013 for the Saudi market, lower than what many expected.”
According to a monthly report by Tadawul, the Saudi stock market was in a positive mood in July as Ramadan factor also contributed to its surge.
At the end of July, the Tadawul All Share Index closed at 7,915.11 points, gained 418.54 points or 5.58 percent over the close of the previous month, according a monthly report by Tadawul.
On an YTD basis TASI registered a positive increase of 16.38 percent (1,113.89 points). Highest close level for the index during the month was 7,915.11 as on July 31.
Sfakianakis said: “The direction of the market from here on will depend on the amount of liquidity we see coming in after the Eid break and certainly the momentum in global markets.”
The Tadawul report said total equity market capitalization at the end of July reached SR1.56 trillion ($417.07 billion), increased by 4.47 percent over the close of the previous month.
The total value of shares traded for the month of July reached SR106.43 billion ($28.38 billion), decreased by 19.24 percent over the previous month.
The total number of shares traded reached 4.08 billion shares during the month of July 2013 compared to 5.90 billion shares traded for the previous month, decreased by 30.73 percent.
The total number of transactions executed during July 2013 reached 2.06 million compared to 2.65 million trades for the month of June 2013, decreasing by 22.30 percent.