By: Thabet Shehata
Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange ended Sunday session on positive performance for the fourth session in a row, backed by the banks and telecommunication sectors.
The main index added 0.69% or 47 points to stand at 6,843.78.
Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) is currently trading near a previous peak at 6,875 points, which if not surpassed, the risk level would be high, market analyst, Faisal Al Otaiby, told Mubasher on Sunday.
He added that closing below 6,875 points in the coming period will propose a downward wave targeting 6,480 points then 6,360 points; but in case the peak was surpassed, the market would witness more rises targeting 7,000 points then 7,200 points.
Traded values fell to SAR 4.2 billion ($1.12 billion) compared to SAR 7.9 billion ($2.1 billion) on the last session.
Traded volumes also decreased to 245.6 million shares compared to 497.6 million shares on Thursday.
The petrochemical and hotels sectors marginally went down 0.08% and 0.04%, respectively, while the Real Estate Investment Traded Fund (REIT) sector remained unchanged.
The energy sector led the gains and rose 2.3%, supported by Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) 2.66% to SAR 19.30, although GASCO shed 0.67%.
The telecommunications sector increased 1.3%, backed by Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Mobily and Zain KSA which gained 1.79%, 0.34% and 1.62%, respectively.
The banks sector also added 0.47%, affected by Al Rajhi Bank and the National Commercial Bank (NCB) which advanced 0.35% to SAR 63.25 and 1.69% to SAR 42.20, respectively.
Ash Sharqiyah Development topped the 122 rising stock and hiked 9.88% to SAR 42.80, followed by Saudi Arabia Refineries Co (SARCO) which jumped 9.84% to SAR 37.30.
On the other hand, Yanbu National Petrochemicals (Yansab) led the 41 losing stocks and fell 1.9% to SAR 49, followed by National Metal Manufacturing and Casting Company’s (Maadaniyah) which decreased 1.4% to SAR 23.25.
Translated by: Sara Ghali
