<B><font size="4">in February</b></font>
03/03/2009 00:00 AST
The Saudi stock market dropped 1.88 percent yesterday. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) fell by 82.81 points to 4,331.74 as global stocks plunged on economic uncertainty yesterday. The index plummeted by 157.52 points or 3.47 percent on Saturday.
Out of 125 companies traded, only 13 firms were in positive territory, while 109 companies were in the red. The stock market turnover was SR3.35 billion.
Meanwhile, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) approved yesterday the initial public offerings (IPOs) of four insurance companies. The four insurance companies will launch IPOs in April to raise SR260 million, the CMA said in a statement.
AXA for Cooperative Insurance, with a capital of SR200 million, will offer 80 million shares to the public which represent 40 percent of the company shares.
ACE Arabia for Cooperative Insurance, with a capital of SR100 million, will offer 40 million or 40 percent of the company shares.
The third company Weqaya Takaful Insurance, with a capital of SR200 million, will offer 80 million shares which represent 40 percent of the company shares.
The CMA said Al-Rajhi Company for Cooperative Insurance, with a capital of SR200 million, will offer 60 million shares or 30 percent of the company shares to the public.
The offer price will be SR10 per share and the offering period will be from April 18 to April 27, the CMA said.
The CMA has also approved Banque Saudi Fransi’s request to increase its capital from SR5.63 billion to SR7.23 billion through issuing 2 bonus shares for every 7 shares owned by the shareholders. Such increase will be paid by transferring an amount of SR1.61 billion from the general reserve to the bank’s capital. Consequently, increasing the bank’s outstanding shares from 562,500,000 shares to 723,214,300 shares, by an increase of 160,714,300 shares.
The CMA yesterday approved Alkhaleej Training and Education Company’s request to increase its capital from SR100 million to SR150 million through issuing one bonus share for every two shares owned by the shareholders. Such increase will be paid by transferring an amount of SR50 million from retained earnings to the company’s capital and by increasing the company’s outstanding shares from 10 million to 15 million, by an increase of 5 million shares.
AL-Babtain Power & Telecommunication Company received approval from the CMA yesterday to increase its capital from SR270 million to SR405 million through issuing one bonus share for every two shares owned by the shareholders. The increase will be paid by transferring SR135 million from retained earnings to the company’s capital and by increasing the company’s outstanding shares from 27 million to 40 million, by an increase of 13.5 million shares.
The Saudi stock market’s performance in February was lackluster.
According to Tadawul’s monthly report for February, the TASI closed at 4,384.59 points, down 424.31 points or 8.82 percent over the close of the previous month.
On an YTD basis TASI lost 418.40 points or 8.71 percent.
Highest close level for the index during the month was 4,944.18 points as on Feb. 14.
Total equity market capitalization at the end of February dropped by 11.13 percent over January to SR819.24 billion ($218.46 billion).
The total value of shares traded for the month reached SR102.16 billion ($27.24 billion), decreasing by 11.26 percent from the previous month.
The total number of shares traded declined 14.24 percent to 5.40 billion in February compared to 6.30 billion shares traded in January.
The total number of transactions reached 3.36 million compared to 3.49 million trades for the month of January.
The number of brokerage firms active in the market reached 34 at the end of February, the Tadawul report said.
Arab News
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