Dallah shares up 51.32% on debut

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI), reflecting a series of ascending tops, edged higher by 0.29 percent to 6,870.98 points yesterday. On a year-to-date basis, the index crossed a positive return of 7 percent. Saudi sectors indices performed in a mixed fashion, with eight sectors accumulating an aggregate of 245.4 points and seven sectors trimming 174 points collectively. Petrochemical Industries and Energy sectors were major gainers, which marginally increased by 0.76 percent and 0.71 percent respectively. Media and Publishing sector, on the contrary, delivered a largely negative performance, slipping 2.19 percent for the day. The market breadth with advance-decline ratio of 1.2:1 remained favorable. Dallah Healthcare Holding Company shares began trading on Tadawul yesterday with the opening price of SR51.25. Its shares closed at SR57.5. On first day it recorded a gain of 51.32 percent. It also dominated the trading activity by liquidating more than 35.2 million shares, which equates 17.3 percent of overall market volume. The value of these shares totaled SR 1.95 billion, a relative market share of 28.8 percent. Furthermore, Allied Cooperative Insurance Group showed the best performance among all Saudi stocks, surging by 9.67 percent to close at SR 59.5. Top ten heavyweights also ended the day in green, with Kingdom Holding rising by 1.71 percent, SABB 0.96 percent and Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC) 0.75 percent. However, Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co. (SAFCO) and Mobily ended without any change. Market participants responded positively for the day. More than 203.6 million shares worth SR6.8 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market. Tadawul turnover reflected an increase of 29.7 percent, surpassing previous day\'s SR5.2 billion.