Tadawul turns down further

The Saudi stock market continued to fall yesterday. The index fell nearly 2.15 percent in three days.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) slipped in the negative territory earlier yesterday, traded below the break-even line throughout the session to close lower at 6,713.18 points, shedding 43.81 points or 0.65 percent further. It traded within a range of 80 points.

Five out of Tadawul's fifteen sectors ended the day in green territory, accumulating only 53.22 points collectively. Remaining twofold sectors lost an aggregate of 484.41 points for the day.

One of the best performing sectors was Insurance which rose to 2.13 percent for the day with Walaa Insurance jumped 10 percent. Even the top gainers chart was filled by insurance stocks, reflecting a daily growth of more than 8.0 percent.

Real Estate Development sector performed worst for the second straight day, trimming 2.62 percent. Dar Alarkan Real Estate topped the loser’s chart, declining by 6.32 percent for the day.

Dar Alarkan appeared to be the most active stock of the day. Its more than 186.4 million shares were traded yesterday, showing a 46.5 percent relative market share. It also pumped more liquidity into the market by contributing SR1.7 billion, which is approximately one-fourth of Tadawul turnover.

The market breadth was weak with 87 stocks witnessing declines against 49 stocks witnessing advances.

Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) and SABB came out as significant players among heavyweights, offsetting their performance by 1.2 percent positive-negative change.