By: Thabet Shehata
Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) witnessed a positive performance during October, to regains its gains after three months of falling, with the highest monthly pace in six months, backed by the banks and petrochemical sectors.
The main index rose 6.92% or 388.88 points to stand at 6,012.22 points in October, to record the highest gain since April, while it closed at the level of 5,623.34 points in September.
The market closed in the green in 16 out of 22 total sessions of October, with nine consecutive sessions high.
Market capitalisation surged to SAR 1.42 trillion ($378.7 billion) in October, compared to SAR 1.325 trillion ($353.43 billion) in September.
The industrial investment topped the gaining sectors rising 14%, followed by the banks and petrochemical sectors which advanced 12.3% and 4.16%, respectively.
On the other hand, the cement led the losing sectors falling 9.2%, followed by the media sector which retreated 5%.
The average of traded value reached SAR 2.98 billion ($769 million) in one session, compared to SAR 2.78 billion ($742 million) average value in September, with a 7.3% increase.
The average of traded volume grew 27% to 213.48 million shares in one session in October from 168 million shares in September.
The National Commercial Bank (NCB) hiked 32.77% to SAR 43.80 in October, compared to SAR 32.99 in September, while Al Rajhi Bank advanced 9.69% to SAR 56.60 from SAR 51.60 last month.
SABIC added 4.94% to SAR 84.72, while it closed at SAR 80.73 in September. Saudi Telecom Company (STC) gained 4.69% to SAR 58.24 from SAR 55.63 last month.
On contrary, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) fell 3.37% to SAR 18.08 from SAR 18.71 in September, while SAFCO decreased 5.46% to SAR 62.63 from SAR 66.25 last month.
Translated by: Sara Ghali
