By: Thabet Shehata
Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) closes in green on Sunday.
The main index rose 0.66% or 46.71 points to stand at 7,137.62 points.
Tadawul faced profit gaining during last week, but the US Federal rate hike decision came to postpone it, especially after Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) increased its repo rate by 50 base points, technical analyst, Bassam Al-Obaid, told Mubasher.
He added that the market is moving in a vertical direction and reaching 7,200 points will lead it to 7,400 points, which is an important resistance point for the coming period.
Traded values rose to SAR 4.7 billion ($1.25 billion) compared to SAR 4.64 billion ($1.2 billion) on Thursday.
Traded volumes also decreased to 252.87 million shares compared to 258.5 million shares on the previous session.
The hotel led the rising sectors and increased 3.3%, backed by Al Tayyar Travel Group which gained 4.15% to SAR 35.10.
The energy sector came in the second place and advanced 2.75%, supported by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) which rose 3.07% to SAR 20.45.
The analyst added that Tadawul's Sunday gains could be considered as a rebound for the market after the previous retreats, assuring that reaching 7,230 points could give a push for new liquidity eneterance.
The petrochemical sector added 1.6%, after SABIC and SAFCO increased 0.86% and 3.38% to SAR 95.25 and SAR 77.75, respectively.
The telecommunication sector went up 0.33%, supported by Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Mobily and Zain KSA which rose 0.34%, 0.32% and 1.88%, respectively, while Etihad Atheeb fell 3.48%.
The banks sector shed 0.32%, affected by Al Rajhi Bank which lost 1.05% to SAR 63.25, while the National Commercial Bank (NCB) added 0.52% to SAR 42.20.
Sahara Petrochemicals Co. topped the 142 gaining shares and hiked 7.2% to SAR 14.35, while Etihad Atheeb led the 26 losing stocks and fell 3.48%.
Dar Al Arkan was the most active in terms of traded volume, exchanging 39.4 million shares; the stock added 0.3%.
SABIC was the most active in terms of traded values of SAR 456.36 million; the stock increased 0.86%.
Al-Obaid noted that profit gaining may return but it is subjected to breaking the levels of 7,000. If that happened, the market will reach an important support zone at the levels of 6,875 to 6,800 points.
Translated by: Sara Ghali
