Petrochemical stock index gains strength

25/03/2014 07:30 AST

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) retreated to 9,429.21 points on Monday, which was roughly where it started the session.

Wavering in the North-South within a range of 56 points it closed just above the break-even line, adding four points merely.

Only Med cap indices showed a negative change on Monday. Seven out of Tadawul’s fifteen sectors finished to the upside, accumulating an aggregate of 167.7 points.

Multi-Investment sector stepped up to occupy the top position at Tadawul, advancing 0.94 percent and closing at 4,484.03. Petrochemical Industries was another significant gaining sector, growing by 0.57 percent for the day.

On the negative side, eight sectors lost 286 points collectively. Insurance sector came out as the biggest loser, shedding 1.3 percent to close the day at 1,216.95.

Saudi Indian Company for Co-operative Insurance (Wafa Insurance) and Medgulf Insurance showing excessive losses of 9.92 percent and 8.60 percent respectively became the major decliners at Tadawul.

Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by a margin of 76 to 58 and the prices of 25 companies remained unchanged. Saudi Advanced Industries Co. led the top gainers chart at Tadawul, surging up roughly seven percent and closing at SR22.25.

Riyad Bank showed the best performance among top ten heavyweights, moving up 1.4 percent to SR35.5.

Tadawul volume went slightly down by 6.4 percent and traded 291.7 million shares but still it was 5.1 percent greater than 50-day average of 277.5 million shares.

Equity turnover reached to SR7.9 billion, an increase of 5.6 percent over the 50-day average level.

Dar Alarkan appeared to be the most active stock for the day. Its volume set sold 39.3 million shares, which are about 13.5 percent of the overall market volume.

While, Alinma Bank with a liquidity of SR647.1 million secured its most active status. But both stocks finished to the downside.

Gulfbase.com