Saudi stocks suffer 30-point fall

The Saudi stock market continued its downward fall yesterday, closing the third straight day with mild losses. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) ended lower to 7,025.74, shedding 0.44 percent or 30.79 points for the entire day. It went to a maximum of 56 points down from the level of opening bell yesterday. The market cap indices all finished to the downside. Only three out of Tadawul’s 15 sectors witnessed a positive change, accumulating nearly 63 points. Transport came out as the best performing sector, advancing by 0.77 percent to 5,174.56. On the worst side, 12 sectors closed in the downward territory, paring an aggregate of 359 points. The Media and Publishing sector continued its negative movement for the seventh consecutive day, going down 51.3 points or 1.75 percent further. The Real Estate sector followed it, declining 1.5 percent for the day. Most of heavy weights closed in red, with Saudi Electricity Co. (SECO) declining by 1.44 percent, Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co. (SAFCO) and bellwether SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) both by 0.81 percent. However, Riyad Bank remained unharmed among large caps, moving up slightly 0.2 percent to SR 23.35. The market breadth confirmed a bearish momentum, as out of 156 stocks traded yesterday only 38 were able to close higher. New player Northern Region Cement made the biggest jump among all Saudi equities, surging by 9.87 percent to close the day at SR 22.8. Most of the trading was also concentrated in this company, which liquidated more than 28.4 million shares, a relative market share of 12.4 percent. The value of these shares reached to SR607.1 million, which reflected roughly 10 percent of overall market liquidity.