Insurance, Energy sector indices close up

28/01/2014 02:44 AST

Saudi Arabia's benchmark Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) stepped down 80.58 points or 0.92 percent further to close at 8,655.01 points Monday. It performed within a range of 97 points yesterday.

Again 13 out of Tadawul’s 15 sectors witnessed a negative change, paring an aggregate of 1,061.5 points. Only Insurance and Energy sectors closed the day higher, gaining 6.1 points nominally.

Retail suffered worst of all sectors, trimming 229.3 points or 1.81 percent to 12,408.06. Tourism and Petrochemical Industries were other major decliners, going down by 1.55 percent and 1.35 percent respectively.

Most of heavyweights finished to the downside, with Al-Rajhi Bank dipping by 1.75 percent and market leader SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) 0.88 percent.

The total number of falling stocks exceeded to the total number of rising stocks by a margin of 100 to 43.

Amana Cooperative Insurance and Arabian Shield Cooperative Insurance played well among all Saudi companies, surging by 5.43 percent and 4.85 percent respectively.

On the other hand, Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Company posted the largest losses at Tadawul, falling 6.96 percent to close the day at SR 25.4.

Share trading activity remained high as compared to previous day; turnover went up by 4.3 percent in terms of volume and 6.7 percent in terms of value.

More than 225.4 million shares worth SR 6.6 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market. Total turnover remained greater than the 50-day average level.

Most of the trading was concentrated in Alinma Bank with 49.3 million shares, capturing 21.9 percent of Tadawul volume. It also topped the value chart, pumping SR 791.1 million into the market.

Gulfbase.com