Tadawul index plunges by 4.16%

31/12/2014 06:45 AST

The Saudi stock market saw a significant setback on Tuesday, passing through a lean session of 4.16 percent after a further drop in oil prices.

The benchmark Tadawul All-Share Index closed down by 368.8 points to 8,486.58, its biggest decline in two weeks. The market cap indices all finished to the downside, ranging from 3.75 percent to 6.39 percent.

Sectoral indices pared an aggregate of 5,325 points. Insurance posted the largest losses among sectoral indices, slipping 6.9 percent to close the day at 1,284.27. Transport, Construction and Tourism sectors followed it, each going down by 5.8 percent.

Media and Publishing sector suffered least losses comparatively, down 2.12 percent to close at 2,267.06 points. The market leader SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) suffered worst of all heavyweights, dipping by 4.32 percent and closing at SR85.53.

Market breadth was largely negative, as out of 163 stocks traded Tuesday only 3 companies including Saudi Research and Marketing Group witnessed a little positive change.

Interestingly, it was ninth consecutive win of Research group, reflecting an appreciation of thirty percent. The company volume also went 12.8 times high over its 50-day average.

While, decliner's chart was filled by Insurance companies, with Saudi Indian Company for Co-operative Insurance, Malath Insurance and MedGulf Insurance, shedding approximately the maximum intra-day limit of ten percent.

A good amount of volume roughly 393 million shares was liquidated at Tadawul, a decrease of 13.9 percent from the previous level but still it was 46.4 percent greater than 50-day average of 268.6 million shares.

Equity turnover reached to SR9.5 billion, an increase of 19.3 percent over the 50-day average level.

Most of the trading was concentrated in Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate with about 74 million shares, capturing 18.9 percent of Tadawul volume.

The value of these shares totaled SR641.1 million, a relative market share of 6.7 percent.

GulfBase.com