On weekly basis, the TASI shed 1.85 percent to close at 6,691.69 points, led by the petrochemical sector.
Almost all sectors closed with a loss for the week except for the retail sector, which saw a very moderate gain of 0.02 percent. Otherwise, losses were widespread, which ranged from a loss of 0.34 percent in the telecom and IT sector to a loss of 4.72 percent in the industrial investment sector, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its weekly market report.
The top gaining companies for the week were Gulf General and Sagr Insurance, which closed with weekly gains of 13.97 percent and 12.96 percent respectively. On the other hand, last week's top decliner was Malath Insurance, which was down 9.03 percent.
Liquidity for the week was improved, coming up to SR22.40 billion, however this is largely due to the huge sell of on Saturday, which pushed the market below the 5-day and lower Bollinger band on a daily basis, as well as leading to a negative divergence of the 5- and 20-day moving averages, the FTH said.
"Saudi investors have apparently come under psychological pressure from the Greek debt crisis," said Abdullah Baeshn, chairman of the Riyadh-based TeamOne consultancy house.
However, he considered the ability of the market to cut the losses it incurred at the start of the week as a sign that Saudi shares were set to score fresh gains in the coming weeks.
Arab stock markets were the scene last week of violent fluctuations reflecting the fallout from the slump in global markets and other negative repercussions on the world economy from the European debt ordeal, financial analysts said Friday.
They warned that Middle East markets could suffer anew from "psychological" offshoots if the European debt crisis unfolds, spreading from Greece to other countries like Spain and Portugal.
The Saudi and other stock exchanges dived at the start of the week, but rebounded the next day and remained subdued for the rest of the week due to concerns in the Arab region that the rescue package for Greece would falter, analysts said.
"However, I do think that, eventually, the European Union countries will be able to come to grips with the debt crisis, given the huge capabilities of countries like Germany and France," Samer Sonnokrot, head of the Amman-based Capital Investments, said.
He said that the sharp fall in oil prices over the past couple of weeks due to retreating world demand could reflect negatively on regional markets particularly in the Gulf region.
Jordanian shares plummeted at the start of the trading week on Sunday but managed to offset their losses and close week in the green.
The all-share index of the Amman Stock Exchange gained 1.87 percent last week, closing at 2,549 points, according to the ASE weekly report.
Sonnokrot attributed the rebound mainly to the improving credit lines offered by local banks and better macroeconomic indicators.
Kuwait's KSE all-share index dived at the start of the week but managed to gain 0.6 percent on weekly basis, closing at 7,155 points.
"The rescue package for Greece has given a dose of confidence and optimism to the market which was able to raze its sharp losses," the Global Investment House (Global) said in its weekly report.
It also attributed the rebound to the passing of the privatization bill in its second reading by the Kuwaiti National Assembly.
The all-share index of the Dubai stock exchange lost 1.1 percent last week at 1,715 points, while the Abu Dhabi bourse closed week almost flat at 2,795 points compared with earlier week's close at 2,791 points.
Egypt's AGX30 index, which measures the performance of the market's 30 most active stocks, plunged 2.8 percent last week, closing at 6,917 points, mainly due to sell-off by foreign investors, analysts said.
The GulfBase GCC Index fell 0.88 percent to 3,974.73 points. The value of GCC traded shares, however, increased by 13.53 percent to $7.87 billion and volume surged by 28.12 percent to 3.34 billion of shares.
