Saudi stock market shares drop 14% in March

06/04/2009 00:00 AST

The Saudi stock market, the largest in the Arab world, continued its downward trend in March with the value of shares traded dropping 14.44 per cent to 87.41 billion riyals (Dh85.61 billion) from 102.16 billion riyals the previous month.

According to the Tadawul statistical report released at the weekend, the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) plunged over 55 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same quarter the previous year.

The value of shares traded in the first quarter fell 56.80 per cent to 304.69 billion riyals.

The value of shares traded in the first quarter dropped 56.80 per cent to 304.69 billion riyals. The total number of shares traded fell by 8.57 per cent to 16.60 billion for the first quarter of this year compared to 18.16 billion shares in the same period in 2008.



The total number of transactions executed during the first quarter this year dropped by 36.32 per cent to 10.04 million compared to 15.76 million trades during the first quarter of 2008.

The report showed that the percentage share of Saudi nationals from the market trades during March was 92.4 per cent for selling, amounting to 80.77 billion riyals and 90 per cent for buying, accounting for 78.67 billion riyals.

The percentage share of Saudi companies from the market trades was 2.4 per cent for the selling of 1.95 billion riyals and 3.7 per cent for the buying of 3.27 billion riyals.

The percentage share of investment funds from the market trades was 1.8 per cent for selling an amount of 1.56 billion riyals and 2.4 per cent for buying 2.06 billion riyals.

The shares of non-GCC Arab residents for selling and buying reached 1.65 billion riyals and 1.60 billion riyals respectively while that of foreign residents reached 191.66 million riyals for selling and 167.80 million riyals for buying.

According to the report, TASI closed at 4,703.75, down 4,288.78 points or 47.69 per cent at the end of the first quarter compared to the same period the previous year. The index closed at 4,802.99 at the end of 2008.

Gulfnews