By Majed Alshabib
Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) finished Wednesday’s trading session below 6,000 points, affected by volatile oil prices that declined more than 4% to $33.27 per barrel today.
The benchmark lost 80 points or 1.3%, battered by the petrochemical and real estate sectors that fell by 2.15% and 1.7% respectively.
Earlier, Ali Al-Naimi, Saudi oil minister, stated that Saudi Arabia does not consider cutting its oil production. This statement represents the key factor behind this downtrend, coupled with a long period of bearish run, said Mohamed Alghamdi, financial analyst.
Market liquidity also dropped 3% as 314 million shares were traded over 152,000 transactions at a turnover of SAR6.1 billion.
Sector-wise, the Saudi equity market saw 13 sectors move down, headed by hotel & tourism (-4.4%) and media & publishing (-4.4%). Meanwhile, the sectors of energy & utilities as well as transport led the advancers by 0.88% and 0.14% correspondingly.
Tracking the stock movement, Saudi Paper Manufacturing came as the worst loser over 144 companies after slipping 7.9%, and then followed by Fitaihi Holding Group (-7.5%) and Malath Cooperative Insurance and Reinsurance (-6.8%).
Meanwhile, 21 companies ended on the positive front, with the rises of MetLife AIG ANB Cooperative Insurance, Al Ahsa Development, Saudi Chemical by 10%, 4.6%, and 3.7% respectively.
Translated by Ahmed Elsayed Ali
