JEDDAH, 25 December 2005 — The Saudi stock market suffered a fall yesterday, with only the Agriculture and Services indices edging slightly higher. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 88.29 points lower to close at 16,704.85.
The heavyweight Banking and Industrial indices edged lower by 43 points and 137.61 points, respectively.
Shares of Bank AlJazira, The Saudi Investment Bank and Al-Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp. rose yesterday. Shares of other banks declined. The Saudi British Bank shares dropped 3.87 percent to close at SR1,490.
In the industrial sector, shares of petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) fell 1.24 percent to SR1,595 and Saudi Arabia Refineries Co. (SARCO) by 10 percent to SR4,511.50.
The cement sector was in the red yesterday with the exception of Tabuk Cement.
Shares of Aseer Trading, Tourism & Manufacturing Co. rose 4.92 percent to close at SR1,498.
Saudi Electricity Co. shares dropped to SR139.75.
In the telecom sector, Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) and Etihad Etisalat shares declined by 1.80 percent and 2.99 percent, respectively.
Shares of Bishah Agriculture jumped 10 percent to SR803, followed by Gizan Agriculture by 9.96 to SR612.50 and Tabuk Agriculture by 5.99 percent to SR407.
Over SR28.5 billion worth of shares changed hands yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Kuwait-based Global Investment House (Global) yesterday held a special seminar at the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) on the listing of Iraq Holding Company (IHC), scheduled to start Monday.
Attending the seminar were: Mohammed Al-Naki, IHC chairman; Hussain Helmi, finance and administrative manager at IHC; Omar M. El-Quqa, executive vice president of Global, and Mohamed Abdul Aziz, Global’s financial analyst. The executives gave a detailed presentation of IHC’s operations and financial data.
