JEDDAH: Abdullah Al-Othaim Markets Company made its Saudi stock market debut with a bang. The SR40 Abdullah Al-Othaim shares opened at SR83 and reached high of SR86 and low of SR67.50 before closing at SR69 yesterday. Over SR1 billion worth of A. Al-Othaim shares changed hands on the first day of trading.
Yousuf Al-Qafari, the CEO of A. Al-Othaim, said his company would diversify its investment and increase its market share. He thanked Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Capital Market Authority, Falcom Financial Services and Saudi banks for their contributions to make the company’s initial public offering (IPO) a big success. A. Al-Othaim is the first retail company to go public. It supplies foodstuffs and other consumer products. The IPO was oversubscribed 21 times as over two million Saudis invested SR1.74 billion in the company’s shares.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI), however, dropped yesterday after surging 149.45 points on Sunday. The index closed 45.83 points down at 9,099.20. The stock market turnover was SR6.92 billion yesterday compared to over SR8 billion on Sunday.
Zamil Industrial Investment Co. shares jumped by 8.57 percent to SR114 and Saudi Ceramic Co. by 6.89 percent to SR155.
Shares in Basic Chemical Industries Co. dropped by 5.77 percent to SR77.50 and The National Company for Glass Industries by 4.92 percent to SR67.50.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) shares declined by 1.28 percent to SR134.50 and Saudi Arabian Fertilizers Co. by 1.92 percent to SR255.
BMG turnover dips
The BMG Saudi Index reversed its uptrend in the previous two trading sessions, ending yesterday’s session going down by 0.8 percent to reach a closing level at 500.52 points. The market turnover also went down by 40.5 percent to reach SR2.1 billion ($552 billion), compared to SR3.5 billion ($927 million), registered in Sunday’s trading session. Most of the sectors witnessed a downtrend, with the exception of the agricultural sector, which continued to witness no change in its closing level, and the banking sector, which rose by 0.6 percent.
Six shares saw no change in their closing prices, while 22 shares depreciated.
