By: Thabet Shehata
Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) witnessed a positive performance during the first week in September to continue its gains for the second week in a row.
The main index advanced 2.75% or 154.7 points to reach 6,176.53 points by the end of trading on 8 September compared to 6,021.81 points last week.
Market capitalization grew by SAR 33.44 billion ($8.92 billion) to reach SAR 1.439 trillion ($383.7 billion) over this week from SAR 1.405 trillion ($374.8 billion) a week ago.
Turnover increased 4.8% to SAR 13.18 billion ($3.5 billion) from SAR 12.58 billion ($3.35 billion) in the past week. This week’s liquidity is the lowest since 2011.
Traded volume rose 3% to 758 million in the first week of September from 736 million shares in the previous week.
The energy sector was the only losing sector shedding 0.47%, on the back of Saudi Electricity Co. which fell 1.15% to SAR 18.93.
The insurance sector was up 3.89%, backed by Bupa Arabia for Cooperative Insurance and the Company for Cooperative Insurance’s (Tawuniya) which levelled up 5.63% and 1.55% to SAR 121.71 and SAR 88.50, respectively.
The petrochemical sector also rose 3.73%, supported by Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) and Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co. (SAFCO) which added 2.61% and 2.23% to SAR 84.23 and SAR 67.47, respectively.
The banks sector rose 3.3%, after Al Rajhi Bank and National Commercial Bank (NCB) advanced 1.57% and 4.31% to SAR 57.56 and SAR 35.85, respectively.
The telecommunication sector went up 0.62%, backed by Mobily and Zain which rose 2.23% and 3.86% to SAR 22.42 and SAR 6.73, respectively.
On the other hand, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) shed 0.12% to SAR 57.74.
Saudi United Cooperative Insurance Co. (Walaa) topped the gains of the week adding 14.24% to SAR 14.60, while National Medical Care Company decreased 5.27% to SAR 59.68.
Alinma Bank was the most active in terms of traded volume and value, after 221.3 million shares exchanged at a value of SAR 2.8 billion. The bank increased 2.58% to SAR 12.72.
Translated by: Sara Ghali
