Saudi stocks continues downward momentum

The Saudi stock market continued its downward momentum and fell for a third consecutive session yesterday. Saudi Arabia\'s benchmark stock index, which continued stepping downward throughout the day, ended in the red territory at 7,583.28 points, down more than 52 points or 0.69 percent from its previous level. It went to a maximum of 59 points down just before ending the session. Only micro cap indices showed a positive change, moving upward slightly by 0.3 percent. Four out of Tadawul’s 15 sectors ended positively, reflecting an accumulation of 91 points. Insurance sector remained key gainer for the day, advancing 0.68 percent to close the day at 1,225.13. On the other hand, eleven sectors closed lower from previous day’s level, shedding 534.5 points for the day. Agriculture, Real Estate and Telecom sectors posted the largest losses, falling 1.51 percent, 1.16 percent and 1.07 percent respectively. Most of heavyweights finished to the downside, with Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) dipping by 1.24 percent and Saudi Telecom 1.21 percent. Market breadth with advance-decline ratio of 0.6:1 remained negative. Allianz Saudi Fransi Cooperative Insurance outperformed among all Saudi equities, reflecting an increment of SR 7.25 or 9.93 percent to SR 80.25. Red Sea Housing Services was another key advancer which gained 7.1 percent for the day. On the negative side, Tabuk Cement suffered worst of all equities, turning down 7.9 percent. Market activity was a little low for the day; specifically 252.3 million shares worth SR 5.7 billion were liquidated at Tadawul. This turnover reflects a daily decrease of 18.5 percent on volume basis and 10.5 percent in terms of liquidity. Dar Alarkan Real Estate regained its most active status yesterday, liquidating over forty million shares and achieving a relative market share of 15.97 percent. Source: ArabNews