Saudi stock market index surges over 1%

The Saudi stock market ended yesterday’s trading session solidly in the green. Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index (TASI) recorded a handsome gain of 1.08 percent, closing at 7,668.58. The index continued pacing its way higher throughout the day to achieve 82.3 points in a single session. On year-to-date basis, the TASI logged an attractive return of 12.75 percent. The market cap indices all finished to the upside, with Med cap increasing by 1.2 percent. All sectors extended gains except Media and Publishing, which trimmed less than half percent to close at 2,710.52. Remaining 14 sectors showed a collection of 1,059.7 points jointly. Industrial Investment and Tourism showed the best performance among sectoral indices, advancing 1.78 percent and 1.61 percent respectively. There were 98 net advancing issues, a largely strong market breadth. Astra Industrial Group and Saudi Paper Manufacturing remained at top positions among all Saudi equities, surging by 5.08 percent and 4.59 percent respectively. Food Products Co., on the contrary, changed its position from the top gainer of previous day to the biggest loser of the day, down SR 2.7 or 7.63 percent. Top ten heavyweights rose from previous day’s levels, with Samba Financial Group rising by 1.98 percent, SABB 1.58 percent and market leader SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) 1.35 percent. SABIC with a liquidity of SR 561.8 million also topped the value chart, reflecting a relative market share of 11 percent and closing at SR 93.5. Most of the trading was concentrated in Alinma Bank with 21.1 million shares, capturing 13.3 percent of Tadawul volume. Roughly 159 million shares worth SR 5.1 billion were poured into the market. Total volume reflected a decrease of 35 percent over the 50-day average level.