Market cap declines to SR 1.43 trillion

Despite closing higher for three days during the week, Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index delivered negative end results last week. The index sustained its downward trend for the second consecutive week, trimming back the 7,000-mark to close lower at 6,998.33 points, down 36.41 points or 0.52 percent from its previous weekend close at 7,034.74 points. It performed within a trading range of 79 points last week. On year-to-date basis, the index showed a collection of roughly 200 points. The market capitalization of Saudi stock exchange reached to SR 1.43 trillion, decreasing by 0.75 percent from the previous week’s value. The market cap indices all went down for the week. Most of the major sectors finished to the downside, shedding an aggregate of 580 points last week. The Transport and Multi-Investment sectors performed worst, going down by 2.1 percent and 1.8 percent respectively. Only Telecom, Banking and Media sectors showed a positive change for the week, accumulating 40 points jointly. Seven out of top 10 heavy weights ended the week lower, with Kingdom holding dipping by 2.18 percent, SABB 1.47 percent and Saudi Electricity Co. 1.44 percent. On the positive side, Al-Rajhi Bank and Mobily closed the week a little higher, increasing by 1.48 percent and 1.02 percent respectively. Weekly market breadth was unfavorable, with 44 stocks witnessing advances and 98 others marking a decline. Furthermore, upside-downside volume ratio of 0.64:1 remained negative. Alalamiya Cooperative Insurance turned in a splendid performance among all Saudi stocks, stepping up throughout the week and gaining SR 19.25 or 29.3 percent to close at SR 85. Saudi Industrial Export Co. was another significant gainer, posting a weekly growth of over ten percent. On the other side of the spectrum, Allied Cooperative Insurance Group suffered the greatest amount of damages, turning down 23.7 percent for the week. Investors’ interest into recently traded Northern Region Cement prolonged, as the company maintained a heavy flow of liquidity SR 4.1 billion with trades over 177.3 million, topping the value and volume charts at Tadawul for the fourth consecutive week. It captured 16 percent of overall market activity, closing at SR 22.4 and advancing 3.7 percent for the week. Most of the major benchmark indices at GCC stock markets ended the week in red. The benchmark GulfBase GCC General Index closed the week slightly lower at 4,079.11 points level, dropping 22.45 points or 0.55 percent for the entire week. From: Arabstoday