Media sector stays in limelight

Saudi stocks hovered in small gains and losses yesterday, almost a repeat of previous day's flat performance which remained negative and the day ended in red. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) lost 9.15 more points to close at 6,881.16. Its trading range expanded to 27.4 points as compared to previous day's 24.3 points. Media and Publishing sector continued to dominate the performance at Tadawul for the second straight day, rising by 1.63 percent. Hotel & Tourism followed it, advancing 1.32 percent for the day. Most of heavyweights slipped from previous day's level, with SABB dipping by 2.23 percent, Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) 1.64 percent and Samba Financial Group 0.66 percent. On the positive side, Saudi Telecom Co. continued to show the best performance for the second straight day, moving up 0.91 percent further. The total number of falling stocks exceeded to the total number of rising stocks by a margin of 76 to 60 and the prices of 20 companies remained unchanged. Amana Cooperative Insu-rance continued its upward march, surging 9.97 percent further to close at SR 184.75. An appreciation of nearly 30 percent in the value of Amana has been recorded in three consecutive days. Alinma bank appeared to be the most active stock for the day. Its volume set sold about 22.3 million shares, which are about 12.7 percent of the overall market. From: Arab News