JEDDAH, 17 August 2005 — The Saudi stock market continued its downward trend yesterday. The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) closed 86.32 points or 0.61 percent lower at 14,169.21 points. The index was down 91.64 points on Monday.
The Industrial index also lost 500.57 points or 1.35 percent to close yesterday at 36,708.57 points. The index fell over 400 points on Monday.
The Banking index suffered 137.78 points or 0.43 percent loss at 32,157.32 and the Telecom index closed marginally 1.63 points lower at 5,411.69 points.
However, the Cement and Electrical sector indices were higher yesterday. The Cement index closed 97.47 points or 1.09 percent higher at 9,023.69 points and the Electrical index closed at 2,566.40, up 10.20 points.
Out of 76 stocks traded 40 were trading higher as 31 stocks were down yesterday.
Economic analyst Khaled Al-Khalifa said there are at least 10 companies that had considerable influence on the movement of the index, adding that these companies would continue to play a big role in moving the index upward by the end of third quarter. He also urges small investors not to make a hasty decision during summer, which is a period of depression for the market.
Investor Abdullah Mufid Zamzami said he had observed that the number of Saudis putting their money in stocks was increasing, adding that most of them have no experience on how to deal with stocks. “These inexperienced investors are likely to create commotion in the market by either putting their all money into the market or withdrawing their money based on rumors and Internet chats,” he told Al-Riyadh Arabic daily.
Meanwhile, Saudi investors continued their excellent performance in Dubai bourse as they carried out 807 deals worth 129.7 million dirham on Monday, exchanging 9.3 million shares. Saudis focused on three shares: Emaar Properties, Amlak Finance Co. and Dubai Islamic Bank. Total trading at the market reached 822.2 million dirham.
