ARCCI shares jump 670% on debut

14/07/2009 00:00 AST

Al-Rajhi Company for Cooperative Insurance (ARCCI) made its debut on the Saudi stock market with a bang on Monday. ARCCI shares jumped 670 percent on the first day of trading to close at SR77.

The SR10 shares opened on Monday at SR83 and reached a high of SR104.75 and a low of SR72. ARCCI, which is trading in the insurance sector, became the 23rd company to be traded in that sector and the 128th on Tadawul.

ARCCI was most active by volume and value as 16,307,100 shares were traded to the value of SR1.43 billion.

The market took another slight dip on Monday, with a generally negative sector direction — only 4 sectors out of 15 closed with gains, namely Petrochemical, Telecomm & IT, Insurance and Industrial Investment.

On the other side, sector losses ranged from 0.03 percent in Banking to 2.42 percent in Hotel & Tourism, backed up by an improved liquidity of SR4.3 billion, which is a negative sign. Sector breadth was negative, with 31 advancers and 87 decliners registering an AD ratio of 0.36, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said on Monday.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI), however, fell slightly on Monday to 5,448.07.

In other insurance stocks, Al-Ahli Takaful company was the top gainer as its shares increased 9.89 percent to SR200. Shares in Saudi Fransi Cooperative Insurance Co. surged 5.06 percent to SR83 on Monday.

SABB Takaful shares edged higher by 3.85 percent on Monday to close at SR94.50 as it has called for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the company on Aug. 8 to vote on the proposed rights issue.

The Capital Market Authority (CMA) approved in June an application from SABB Takaful to increase the company’s capital through a rights issue with a total value of SR300 million.

The rights issue offering is being made to SABB Takaful shareholders registered with Tadawul at the close of trading on the date of the EGM, according to a statement by the company.

Shares in Al-Baha Investment & Development Co. dropped by 7.77 percent to SR19 and The Mediterranean & Gulf Insurance & Reinsurance Co. by 5.78 percent to SR26.10.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) shares edged higher by 1.70 percent to SR59.75.

Arab News