By Majid Al Shabib
Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) gained as much as 0.67% on Monday, following jittery performance amid anticipation for the announcement of the kingdom’s budget for the new year.
The main index added 66 points at open, backed by the energy sectors that jumped by its maximum rate, after which it began profit taking to offset such gains.
Saudi Arabia announced today that the budget for the year 2015 included SAR 367 billion deficit, as revenues and spending amounted to SAR 608 billion and SAR 975 billion respectively.
Meanwhile, the state budget for 2016 showed projected revenues of SAR 513 billion and public spending amounting to SAR 840 billion, with expected deficit of SAR 327 billion. The estimated spending for 2016 is lower than the actual figures in 2015 by SAR 135 billion.
Tadawul closed 46 points higher at 6,992 points, still below the 7,000 mark.
Monday’s liquidity amounted to SAR 5.19 billion, generated from trading 255 million shares in 111,000 transactions.
Ten sectors moved higher topped by energy and media, while the remaining five sectors moved lower led by hotel and cement sectors.
100 stocks were in green, spearheaded by Saudi Electricity, Enaya and Gasco. On the flipside, 60 other stocks were in red led by Alalamiya, Saudi Cement and Makkah Construction.
