Six-day surge ends at Tadawul

After six consecutive days of trading in the green, the Saudi stock market took a reversal yesterday, dropping a few points. The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) opened with a negative note on its first trading day of the new week, spending entire session in the red territory and reflecting the double bottom yesterday. It closed below the break-even line losing 22.90 points or 0.33 percent to reach at 6,919.06 points level. The index plunged to a maximum of 50 points during the day. Only four out of Tadawul's 15 sectors witnessed a positive change, accumulating 35 points for the day. Insurance came out as the best performing sector, advancing by 1.78 percent to 1,537.81. On the negative side, eleven sectors closed in the downward territory, paring an aggregate of 293 points. Multi-Investment sector was a significant decliner, shedding over one percent for the day. The total number of falling stocks exceeded to the total number of rising stocks by a margin of 87 to 48 and the prices of 19 companies remained unchanged. Most of heavy weights closed in red, with Kingdom Holding dipping by 2.36 percent, SABB 1.26 percent and Saudi Telecom Co. 0.95 percent. However, Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) and SAMBA Financial Group were able to manage for a gain, moving up by 1.01 percent and 0.42 percent respectively. Amana Cooperative Insurance recovered from three consecutive declines yesterday and led the top gainers chart at Tadawul, rising by 9.90 percent to close the day at SR 216.5. The trading activity remained roughly 19 percent lower than that of Wednesday. More than 160 million shares worth SR 4.93 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market. From : Arab News