By Thabet Shehata
Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) shut Wednesday’s session in the green zone, thus extending yesterday’s gains, backed mainly by petrochemical stocks.
The main index, or TASI, rose by 0.6% or 38.4 points to close at a 15-session high of 6,442.04 points.
The market’s trend is “positive” in the short term, said Ali Al-Jaafari, financial analyst, adding that oil prices and announcement of financial results would set the tone for upcoming days.
Ten sectors were in green, led by petrochemical industries (+2.2%), while banks and telecoms rose by 0.51% and 0.01% in a row. The red list included five sectors led by cement that shed 0.71%.
As for stocks, Aslak led the way on gains (+9.84%). Petrochemical stocks were in green, mainly SABIC that added 0.83%, while Advanced shed 0.33%.
The bank stocks were mixed, as Al-Rajhi topped the six gaining stocks, with a rise of 1.3% to SAR 55.25. Meanwhile, five other stocks were in red, led by Bank Al-Jazira that lost 1.84%.
Today’s traded value declined to SAR 5.44 billion ($1.45 billion) from SAR 5.89 billion ($1.57 billion. Traded volume rose to 348.3 million shares from 310.7 million shares.
Alinma Bank was the top active in terms of traded value and volume, upon exchanging 52.14 million shares at SAR 692.66 million. The stock rose by 0.76% to SAR 13.30.
The analyst defined support levels at 6,350; 6,300; 2,210 and 6,160 points. Meanwhile, resistance levels are set at 6,530; 6,800 and 7,100 points.
Translated by Sayed Abdel Rahman
