Saudi banks stay in the limelight

The Saudi Stock Market bucked the 5-day downward trend and turned green yesterday on the back of strong performance by the Banking and Media sectors. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) ended the day in the green at 7,573.28 points, up 21.40 points or 0.28 percent, from its previous day close at 7,551.88 points. The index earlier slipped into the red territory, wavered in the same zone for the entire day, lost more than 100 points during the session but market witnessed some buying interests before the close, which pushed the index to edge up. Banks & Financial Services sector remained in limelight, with heavyweights Al-Rajhi Bank surged 3.93 percent, Samba Financial Group by 1.86 percent and SABB 1.68 percent. This sector accumulated more than 353 points or 2.07 percent to close the day at 17,452.66. Media and Publishing sector followed it, achieving 2.02 percent for the day. Investors' confidence restored as Tadawul total volume set sold about 713.7 million shares (28.4 percent increase compared to the previous day. Most of the trading was concentrated in Atheeb Telecom, which appeared to be the most active stock at Tadawul. Its more than 144.5 million shares were traded yesterday, a relative market share of 20 percent. Atheeb also recovered from previous days' losses and topped the performance chart at Tadawul, soared up 9.94 percent to close at SR18.8.