US stocks posted their worst week in two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 46.05 points, or 0.47 percent, at 9,686.48 on Friday.
US crude oil futures slipped 81 cents, or 1.11 percent, to settle at $72.14 a barrel, the weakest close since June 8.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed at 6,033.91 points and the petrochemical index dropped 1.5 percent to 5,217.92 points.
The sector activity for the day remained negative with all sectors closing with losses ranging from 0.075 by the Insurance sector to 1.74 percent by the Hotel & Tourism sector. The overall market breadth for the day remained strongly negative with only 29 advancers against 102 decliners giving it an AD ratio of 0.284, the Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily market commentary.
The petrochemical heavyweight, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) declined 2.04 percent to SR84 but Saudi Arabian Fertilizers Co. (SAFCO) surged 4.9 percent to SR133.75 after saying that it will pay a dividend of SR6 per share in July.
The stock market turnover was over SR2.43 billion on Saturday.
The top gainer on Saturday was Sanad Insurance & Reinsurance Cooperative Co. as its shares jumped 7.81 percent to SR20.70. The other gainers were Al-Alamiya for Cooperative Insurance Company (up 7.17 percent), Saudi Industrial Export Co. (4.49 percent) and Yanbu National Petrochemical Co. (4.46 percent).
The Saudi stock market surged 8.89 percent during the first half of this year. According to Tadawul's first half report released on Saturday, at the end of the first half of this year TASI closed at 6,093.76 points, up 497.30 points over the close of the same period of the previous year.
Highest close level for the index during the period was 6,929.40 points as on April 26.
Total equity market capitalization at the end of first half reached SR1.20 trillion, increasing by 11.55 percent over the end of the first half of the previous year.
The total value of shares traded reached SR455.71 billion in the first half of this year, decreasing by 41.58 percent over the same period of the previous year.
The total number of shares traded reached 19.62 billion compared to 38.34 billion shares traded during the first half of the previous year, decreasing by 48.83 percent.
The total number of transactions executed during the fist half reached 11.66 million compared to 22.63 million trades during the first half of the previous year, decreasing by 48.45 percent.
