Market cap falls to SR 1.33 trillion

Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index sustained its downward trend for the third consecutive week, falling back to its year-to-date level of performance. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TAS) zigzagging downward closed lower to 6,533.14, paring more than 75 points or 1.16 percent for the entire last week. The market capitalization of Saudi stock exchange reached to SR 1.33 trillion, decreasing by 0.81 percent from the previous week's value. All market cap indices ended the week in the red zone. Most of the major sectors fell down last week, trimming 819 points collectively. The Insurance and Real Estate Development sectors performed worst, going down by 4.61 percent and 3.47 percent respectively. Media and Publishing outdid rest of the sectors, advancing roughly 2 percent to close the week at 2,683.02. Decliners outnumbered the advancers by a margin of 111 to 42 and the prices of 2 companies remained unchanged for the week. Furthermore, upside-downside volume ratio of 0.2:1 remained negative. Saudi Industrial Export showed a tremendous performance among all Saudi stocks, topping the weekly gainer chart with 12.17 percent positive change, closing at SR 64.5. On the other side of the spectrum, Arabian Shield Insurance suffered the greatest amount of damages, turning down 20 percent for the week. Anaam International Holding and Gulf General Insurance followed it, declining more than 13 percent last week. Seven out of top 10 heavyweights ended the week in green, with Kingdom Holding surging by 4.56 percent to close the week at SR 17.2. Al-Rajhi Bank, on the other hand, posted the largest loss, reflecting a reduction of 5.88 percent. Tadawul weekly turnover improved by 16.4 percent on volume basis, 4.6 percent on value basis and 4.7 percent in terms of executed transactions. More than 936 million shares worth SR 23.9 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market. Most of the major benchmark indices at GCC stock markets ended the week in green. The benchmark GulfBase GCC General Index also closed the week lower at 3,844.21 points level, dropping slightly by 3.7 points or 0.1 percent for the entire week. Arabnews