JEDDAH, 15 November 2007 — The fall in banking and major industrial stocks pushed Saudi stock market down yesterday. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) fell 6.05 points to 9,264.75.
Abdullah Al-Rassi, a share market watcher, said the Saudi market is passing through a gradual decline in its liquidity level, which is not matching with the current trend of the general index. This behavior also reflects the lack of trust in the index movement indicating that the purchases have reached a stage, which is weighed down by the traders’ desire to reap profits.
Rassi also expected the likelihood of general index entering a marginal band so that shares of smaller companies can join the trend of the profitable companies in the remaining period of the year.
Ali Al-Fadli, technical analyst, said the general index for the Saudi share market entered the region of vigorous activity with points ranging between 9,180 and 9,400, which are new ground for the Saudi index at least in this year.
In the banking sector, shares of Riyad Bank, Saudi Hollandi Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Arab National Bank and Bank Albilad dropped yesterday.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) shares fell slightly to SR168 yesterday. Saudi Arabia Refineries Co. shares plunged by 3.64 percent SR238 and Saudi Ceramic Co. by 2.98 percent to SR97.50.
Shares of Saudi Arabian Amiantit Co. surged by 6.66 percent to SR36, Food Products Co. by 5.69 percent to SR41.75 and Al-Baha Investment & Development Co. by 5.69 percent to SR41.75.
In the insurance sector, shares of Saudi IAIC Cooperative Insurance Co. increased by 4.13 percent to SR119.75 while AlAlhli Takaful shares dropped 2.69 percent to SR162.50.
Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) shares rose by 0.34 percent to SR72 while Etihad Etisalat shares declined by 1.03 percent to SR72 yesterday. STC was most active by value as shares worth SR524.06 million changed hands yesterday, followed by SABIC with SR518.42 million and Al-Rajhi Bank SR394.79 million.
The stock market turnover crossed SR9 billion as shares of 50 companies increased while 40 companies were in the red yesterday.
BMG Index Turnover Increases
The BMG Saudi Index ended the last trading session of this week on a positive note, going up marginally yesterday by 0.04 percent to close at 521.47 points. The market turnover also increased from Tuesday’s session to reach SR3.99 billion ($1.07 billion), indicating a rise of 2.9 percent.
All the sectors witnessed gains yesterday, except the industrial sector, which fell by 0.09 percent. The services sector was the best performing sector, registering a 1.85 percent rise from its previous close. The insurance sector climbed by 1.5 percent, whereas the agricultural sector advanced by a marginal 0.25 percent.
Nineteen shares recorded gains yesterday, while 7 moved down and 4 did not witness any change. Food Products’ share surged by 5.7 percent to close at SR41.75, outperforming all the other shares in the index.
Conversely, Ahmed H. Fitaihi Company’s share lost 1.1 percent of its previous close to top the worst performing shares, closing yesterday’s session at SR43.5 per share.
