JEDDAH, 31 July 2007 — The Saudi stock market fell as shares of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), which made its debut on the Tadawul on Sunday, dropped yesterday.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) declined by over one percent or 87.11 points to close at 7,506.45 yesterday. KHC shares declined 4.08 percent to SR11.75 on their second day of trading. Its shares rose 19.51 percent on first day.
The banking sector suffered badly as shares of 9 banks edged lower while the only gainer was Saudi Hollandi bank as its shares rose 1.78 percent to SR43 yesterday.
Shares of Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) and Etihad Etisalat also suffered heavy blows. STC shares dropped 1.89 percent to SR65 and Etihad Etisalat shares dived 3.19 percent to SR60.75.
Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) shares also dipped 2.17 percent to SR11.25 yesterday.
In the insurance sector the performance was mixed as shares of four companies rose while five companies were in the red.
Arabian Shield Cooperative Insurance Co. was the top gainer yesterday as its shares jumped 8.95 percent to SR70.
According to the National Commercial Bank’s market review of July 29, the listing of KHC to TASI and the offer of 315 million shares (or 5 percent of 6.3 billion outstanding shares) at SR10.25 per share, the company has been valued at SR64.5 billion making it the fifth largest listed company by market cap after Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SR318 billion), STC (SR135.5 billion), Al-Rajhi Bank (SR101.1 billion), and Samba Financial Group (SR71.5 billion) using July 25 closing prices.
SABIC shares fell 1.59 percent yesterday to close at SR124.
The stock market turnover also rose slightly to SR8.71 billion from SR8.09 billion on Sunday.
Shares of 56 companies declined while only 32 companies were in positive territory yesterday.
