JEDDAH, 2 November 2006 — Looks like there is no respite for investors. The Saudi stock market continued its downward spiral this week as well. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) lost another four percent yesterday to close 389.42 points down at 9,328.47. The index has lost a staggering 1,199.38 points or 11.85 percent in the last three days.
Over SR11 billion worth of shares changed hands yesterday compared to SR12.27 billion on Tuesday.
Out of 82 listed companies, shares of 75 firms declined, while only four companies were in the positive territory. The four gainers yesterday were Banque Saudi Fransi, Southern Cement, Al-Baha Investment & Development Co. and Bishah Agriculture.
The Industrial index took a heavy fall of 1,161.61 points at 18,169.26 as shares of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) nose-dived 5.65 percent to SR108.50.
The Banking index also closed 660.88 points lower at 27,719.71 yesterday.
According to the stock market report for the month of October available on Tadawul website, the TASI closed at 9,717.89 points in October as compared to 1,1410.04 points at the end of September. The index dropped by 14.8 percent in October.
The market capitalization at the end of October fell 13.72 percent to SR1.48 trillion ($395.79 billion) as compared to the previous month.
The total value of shares traded for October also declined by 43.54 percent to reach at SR288.93 billion ($77.05 billion) as compared to September.
The report said the total number of shares traded plunged 40.16 percent to 3.74 billion in October as compared to 6.25 billion in September.
The total number of transactions executed during October 2006 reached 6.839 million as compared to 9.593 million trades for the month of June 2006 and increased by 28.7 percent.
According to the Tadawul report, number of trading days for the month of October were 18, compared to 20 days for September.
