TADAWUL: Hotel & tourism sector in limelight

26/03/2014 07:49 AST

Saudi stocks hovered in small gains and losses on Tuesday, almost a repeat of previous day’s flat performance which turned positive and the day ended in green.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) wavering along the break-even line edged up 0.05 percent to 9,433.63 points.

Only Large cap indices could not manage for gains yesterday. Most of heavyweights finished to the downside, with Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co. (SAFCO) dipping by 4.57 percent and Kingdom holding 1.1 percent.

SAFCO also hit new 4-week low before closing at SR162. However, Samba Financial Group rose half percent to SR43.3. Its volume went 360 percent high from previous day. Five out of Tadawul’s 15 sectors including Insurance (-0.47 percent) witnessed a negative change, dropping fifty points for the day. Remaining twofold sectors closed in the green territory, accumulating an aggregate of 482.9 points.

Hotel & Tourism came out as the key performing sector, rising by 217 points or more than one percent to close at 20,826.39. Industrial Investment sector also continued its upward march, marking another gain of 0.7 percent and closing just below the 8,000-mark.

Market breadth was positive, with 82 stocks witnessing advances and 44 others marking a decline.

Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co. showing notable gains 7.87 percent became the top performer among all Saudi companies. SPM shares have climbed to a 52-week high of SR48.7 before closing at SR48.

Share trading activity remained low yesterday, as Tadawul volume set sold approximately 250 million shares, a decrease of 14.2 percent as compared to previous day.

Liquidity also reduced to SR6.9 billion, 12.4 lower than previous level. The turnover also went below the 50-day average levels, ranging from 8 to 10 percent.

Most of the trading was concentrated in Dar Alarkan with 29.4 million shares, a relative market share of 11.7 percent.

Arab News