Tourism sector index exceeds 19,000-mark

08/01/2015 06:34 AST

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark Tadawul All-Share Index bucked the three-day downward trend and logged a reasonable gain of 0.94 percent on Wednesday.

The TASI took a u-turn after trimming back the 8,000-mark and finally added 75.96 points, closing at 8,133.39. It rose to a maximum gain of 1.88 percent during mid of the session.

Micro cap with two and half percent positive change remained prominent among market cap indices.

Sectoral performance was tremendous, as all sectors except Media finished to the upside, accumulating an aggregate of 1,365.69 points.

Hotel & Tourism sector made the biggest jump, posting a handsome growth of 2.46 percent and crossing 19,000-mark.

Insurance and Industrial Investment sectors followed it, advancing 2.4 percent and 1.76 percent respectively.

Most of the major heavyweights extended gains, with National Commercial Bank surging by 2.8 percent, Saudi Telecom 2.4 percent and bellwether SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) 1.4 percent.

Market breadth was positive, as rising stocks outnumbered decliners by a huge margin of four-to-one on the Tadawul market.

Saudi Indian Company for Co- operative Insurance (WAFA Insurance) remained at top position among all Saudi equities, soaring up 9.98 percent and closing at SR 29.1. A good amount of turnover 393.6 million shares worth SR9.1 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market.

The 50-day average for trading turnover is closer to 283 million shares worth SR8.0 billion.

Trading activity was led by Alinma Bank, which liquidated roughly 49 million shares, a relative market share of 12.4 percent. The value of these shares totaled SR 962.4 million, which equates 10.6 percent of total market liquidity.

Furthermore, Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (+3.13 percent) volume went 3.2 times high over its 50-day average, pouring 22.2 million shares.

GulfBase.com