By Mohamed Abu Meleeh
Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) shed 225.45 points on Wednesday, which is the biggest one-day point losses in the last four months (since 24 December).
The main index, or TASI, went down by 3.34% to close at a three-year low of 6,517.7 points.
Meanwhile, the market’s traded value was back to a rise of 2.37% to SAR 5.2 billion, from SAR 4.2 billion. Traded volume also increased by 29.5% to 232 million shares from 179 million shares and the number of executed transactions rose by 21.9% to 129,000 from 106,000.
Sentiment in the market was battered by tensions in diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran after the kingdom’s consulates in Tehran and Mashhad cities were stormed following the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr.
Meanwhile, global markets and oil prices were hurt by North Korea’s announcement it has successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test.
A senior U.S. administration told CNN it could take days to obtain the scientific data to determine whether this was a successful test.
The news reflected negatively on oil prices that plunged to their lowest levels in 11 years.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi business tycoon and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), announced cancelling plans for investments in Iran and suspending flights by Flynas to and from Iran.
Meanwhile, an official at The Savola Group was reported as saying the company would maintain its investment in Iran despite the current spat.
Savola stock trimmed its losses to 3.02% from 9.84% yesterday, while KHC stock rose by 2.41% to rank third among today’s gainers.
The industrial investment sector was the biggest decliner, with a fall of 4.91%, after its biggest stock Ma’aden dropped by 7.23%.
The petrochemical industries sector came second, with a decline of 4.76%, after giant petrochemical firm SABIC slid 3.2%, while SAFCO drifted 6.05% lower.
Meanwhile, the media and research sector bucked the downtrend, rising 1.36%, after SRMG stock, which represents 58% of the sector’s weight, gained 2.62%.
Eleven stocks moved higher topped by Solidarity (+4.05%), then SRMG and KHC. On the negative front, 151 stocks moved down led by SIIG (-8.1%), Petrochem (-7.78%), Sipchem (-7.57%) and Ma’aden (-7.23%).
Translated by Sayed Abdel Rahman
