The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 0.82 percent lower at 6,975.27 points yesterday. The index continued stepping downward on its last trading day of the week, traded below the break-even line throughout the session and shed 57.85 points further. Its year-to-date (YTD) 2012 gains reduced to 8.69 percent.
All market cap indices closed the day in the negative zone.
Most of sectors indices closed in red — Multi-Investment dipped by 2.83 percent, Insurance 2.71 percent and Building & Construction 2.14 percent.
On the other hand, Media and Cement sectors traded positively, accumulating an aggregate of 30.88 points for the day.
Overall performance of heavyweight stocks remained negative as all ended in the red territory, with Kingdom Holding tumbled 3.12 percent for the day.
Only SABB closed in green, showing a 0.57 percent daily growth to SR34.8.
Decliners outnumbered the advancers by a margin of 122 to 18 and the prices of 11 companies remained unchanged.
Cement stocks were among the top gainers, with Al-Jouf Cement and Southern Province Cement, rising by 3.4 percent and 1.99 percent respectively.
Yesterday, the board of directors of Al-Jouf Cement announced the recommendation of a cash dividend of SR 0.50 per share to its shareholders for the 1st half of the year 2012. Perhaps, the investors were inclined to participate in the cement sector after this announcement.
Major insurance stocks fell down, with Allied Coop. Insurance and BUPA Insurance, declining by 8.5 percent and 6.6 percent respectively.
Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain), with a turnover of 139.3 million shares worth SR1.4 billion capturing 37 percent of the market share, continued to dominate the trading activity at Tadawul.
Tadawul dips below 7,000
