Saudi shares drop in high turnover

The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) dropped sharply by 144.79 points yesterday, registering its biggest intra-day decrease since the start of 2012. At one point the market declined by 3.45 percent, when index level reached the day\'s low of 7,591.13. TASI gained 25 points in early trading, but subsequently traveled sideways in the negative zone throughout the day and closed at 7,717.72, declining by 1.48 percent for the day. Market activity was high, specifically SR18.18 billion were poured into the market. Trading volume was impressive, with about 925 million shares changed hands in the market, a remarkable 70 percent when compared with Saturday\'s trading. All sectors indices closed in the red, except the Retail sector which gained a small percentage of 0.04 and closed at 7,411.20 points. Multi-Investment was the top decliner which lost 4.62 percent and closed at 3,693.83 points, followed by Building & Construction and Insurance sectors, which declined by 4.22 and 3.72 percent respectively. Overall performance of top 10 market cap companies remained negative, as all ended in the red territory, with Samba Financial Group declining by 2.25 percent and Mobily 2.24 percent. Alinma Bank dominated the trading activity; with a turnover of 198.9 million shares worth SR3.2 billion, and topping the volume and value charts on the Saudi stock market. It captured 21 percent of the total volume traded at Tadawul. Decliners outnumbered the advancers by a margin of 133 to 14, while the price of 1 company remained unchanged. Saudi Arabian Cooperative Insurance with 9.89 percent growth was top gainer of the day. It was followed by Tihama, which moved up 5.26 percent. Enaya Insurance, NAMA Chemicals, Saudi Re and Atheeb Telecom were worst performing stocks, down 10.00, 9.90, 9.88 and 9.83 percent respectively.