By Mohamed Abu Meleeh
Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) main index extended its rise to the second successive week, after it fell during five straight weeks during which it lost more than one fifth of its value.
The market was supported mainly by the cement and banks sectors. However, the decline in petrochemical industries, agriculture and real estate development trimmed the market gains.
The main gauge, or TASI, rose as much as 1.58% or 93 points to end the week at 5,973.07 points. It added 9.3% or 509.5 points in the last two weeks.
During the week, ten sectors moved higher topped by cement (+10.1%), the media and publishing (+7.04%). Telecommunication rose by 3.9% and banks and financial services rallied by 2.79%.
Meanwhile, five other sectors moved lower led by real estate development (-3.54%), petrochemical industries (-1.5%) and agriculture (-0.34%).
The drop in the petrochemical stocks came amid volatility in the oil prices after reports about a rise in U.S. inventories to record levels.
The real estate development sector was also down due to negative news mainly the difficulties facing local steel factories such as oversupply and product dumping. Moreover, the market is anticipating the start of the 'white land' fees system.
Small-cap and speculative stocks were the best performers. Alinma Tokio Marine was the biggest gainer (+29.6%), followed by Amana Insurance (+24.16%), Saudi Cement (+19.96%), Trade Union (+18.74%) and Alandalus (+18.6%). Meanwhile, Al-Tayyar was the biggest drag (-10.8%), followed by Yansab (-9.6%) and Jabal Omar (-7.5%).
Translated by Sayed Abdel Rahman
