By: Thabet Shehata
Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) ended Thursday on a positive note, in the highest closure since 6 December 2015.
The main index added 1.27% or 90.8 points to reach 7,257.17 points.
Tadawul’s main index achieved new peaks on Tuesday and expected to target 7,500 points in the coming period, technical analyst, Abdullah Al Jabaly, told Mubasher.
He added that the announcement of the state’s budget had its positive impact on the market’s performance, as it beat the expectations of the local expertise houses and international economic institutions.
Turnover reached SAR 5.97 billion ($1.59 billion) compared to
SAR 4.6 billion ($1.23 billion) on Monday.
Traded volume also increased to 350.6 million shares compared to 251.8 million shares last session.
Al Jabaly noted that the coming period will be instable and fluctuating for the market, as for the announcements of the 2016 companies’ financial results.
The media topped the best performers and rose 1.94%, backed by Tihama Advertising which hiked 10% to SAR 34.10.
The banks sector came second and added 1.84%, supported by the National Commercial Bank (NCB) which levelled up 2.02% to SAR 43.
The petrochemical sector also grew 1.09%, after SABIC and SAFCO went up 0.76% to SAR 93 and 0.42% to SAR 74.50, respectively.
The telecommunication sector achieved the least gains adding 0.23%, as Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Mobily and Zain KSA rose 0.34%, 0.12% and 0.59%, respectively.
Saudi United Cooperative Insurance Co. (Walaa) topped the losing stocks and fell 2.42% to SAR 22.55.
Al Inma Bank was the most active in terms of traded value of SAR 719.7 million, rising 1.54%, while Dar Al Arkan was the most active in terms of traded volume trading 73.7 million shares, adding 3.74%.
Translated by: Sara Ghali
