JEDDAH: After surging 1.90 percent last week, the Saudi stock market started new week with a red.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed at 6,295.92 points — down 1.35 percent — on Saturday with losses across all sectors, ranging from 0.12 percent in the Multi-Investment sector to a loss of 2.87 percent in the Media & Publishing sector. Overall market breadth was also negative, with only 21 advancers and 107 decliners, giving an AD ratio of 0.20, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily market commentary. Shares in Zain Saudi Arabia slipped 0.98 percent in the wake of the news of talks with lenders, dragging the main index of the Saudi bourse — the only regional market trading on Saturday — into the red. Zain shares ended at SR10.1 — their lowest since a SR6.3 billion IPO in 2008. Investors are not pleased about the way the bourse watchdog Capital Market Authority’s (CMA) has handled the communication on Zain Saudi Arabia’s debt problems, say analysts who asked not to be named.
Many banks involved in Zain Saudi Arabia’s Muarabaha deal lost some feathers after the announcement. Banque Saudi Fransi shares ended 3.72 percent down, Arab National Bank 3.33 percent and SABB bank 2.52 percent.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) shares declined 1.11 percent to SR88.75.
— With input from agencies
