Small caps weigh on market decline

17/11/2014 09:54 AST

The Saudi stock market passed through another lean session, shedding 1.32 percent on Sunday.

The benchmark Tadawul All-Share Index closed down by 127.8 points to 9,553.81, after being low as much as 156 points before the closing bell.

All Market cap indices logged a negative change, with Small cap falling 1.85 percent on Sunday. Only Telecom and Media sectors witnessed a positive change among sectoral indices. Remaining 13 sectors pared an aggregate of 2,196 points.

Hotel & Tourism sector posted the largest losses, slipping 665 points or 2.85 percent to close the day at 22,705.76. Industrial Investment and Retail sectors followed it, going down more than two percent.

Most of heavyweights finished to the downside, with Samba Financial Group dipping by 1.71 percent, Al-Rajhi Bank 1.67 percent and bellwether SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) 1.63 percent.

The tug of war ended in the favor of bears by a huge margin of 131 to 23. The MedGulf Insurance showing excessive losses of SR6.4 or 8.97 percent became the major decliner at Tadawul.

On the other positive side, new player National Commercial Bank continued its upward march, marking another gain of 9.67 percent to SR59.5. Malath Cooperative Insurance was another key gainer, surging 6.88 percent and hitting a fresh two-year high to SR33.51.

An appreciation of nearly 35 percent in the value of Malath has been recorded in six days. The company volume rose 4.5 times over its 50-day average, liquidating 12.6 million shares. Tadawul volume went down further by ten percent and traded 173 million shares as compared to previous day’s 191.5 million shares. The value of these shares totaled SR6.1 billion, an increase of 2.64 percent from previous level.

The overall turnover remained below the 50-day average level, ranging from 28-to-32 percent.

Arab News