Saudi market cap rises by 29.31% to SR1.20 trillion
Posted by Arab News
Khalil Hanware | Arab News
Sunday 3 January 2010



JEDDAH: The Saudi stock market began the first day of trading in 2010 on a positive note on Saturday after a roller coaster 2009.

The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed 19.87 points or 0.32 percent higher at 6,141.63. The sector gains for the day ranged from 0.05 percent by the Real Estate Development sector to 1.74 percent by the Telecommunication & Information Technology sector where as the sector losses ranged from 0.11 percent by the Banks & Financial Services sector to 1.06 percent by the Industrial Investment sector. The market breadth remained positive with 57 advancers against 53 decliners giving an AD ratio of 1.08, the Jeddah-based Financial Transaction House (FTH) said in its daily market commentary.

The Petrochemical Industries index closed 0.84 percent higher at 5,441.94. Shares in Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) increased by 0.30 percent to SR82.75 while shares in Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Petro Rabigh) gained 0.56 percent to SR35.70. Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co. shares surged 1.37 percent to SR18.45.

The only loser in the sector was Saudi International Petrochemical Co. Its shares closed on Saturday at SR23.80, down 0.21 percent.

In the Banks & Financial Services sector, shares in Riyad Bank, Bank Albilad, Alinma Bank, Arab National Bank and Bank AlJazira declined on Saturday.

Shares in Etihad Etisalat jumped 3.46 percent to close at SR44.90 on Saturday. Saudi Telecom Co. (STC) shares gained 0.45 percent to SR44.30.

The stock market turnover was over SR1.44 billion on Saturday.

At the end of 2009, TASI closed at 6,121.76 points compared to 4,802.99 points in the previous year. The index gained 1,318.77 points or 27.46 percent last year. The highest closing level for the index during the year was 6,568.47 points as on Oct. 24.

The total market capitalization in 2009 increased by 29.31 percent to SR1.20 trillion ($318.80 billion), according to Tadawul’s Annual Statistical Report 2009, released on its website on Saturday.

The total value of shares traded for the year 2009 reached SR1.26 trillion ($337.07 billion) compared to SR1.96 trillion ($523.45 billion) for the previous year, a drop of 35.61 percent.

The total number of shares traded in 2009 reached 57.34 billion compared to 60.82 billion shares traded during the previous year, decreasing by 5.73 percent.

The total number of transactions executed in 2009 fell by 30.07 percent to 36.46 million compared to 52.14 million trades in 2008, the report said.

The daily average value of shares traded during the year 2009 dropped by 35.35 percent to SR5.06 billion compared to SR7.82 billion in the previous year.

The daily average number of shares traded (adjusted) in 2009 was 229.35 million compared to 242.31 million shares for the previous year, decreasing by 5.35 percent.

The Tadawul report said petrochemical sector was the most active sector in term of volume of shares traded in 2009. The number of shares traded for the sector reached 10.98 billion that represent 19.15 percent of the total volume traded during the year, followed by the Banks & Financial Services sector with a volume of 8.90 billion shares or 15.52 percent of the total shares traded during the year and the Insurance sector with 5.58 billion shares traded or 9.74 percent of the total shares traded during the year 2009.

The petrochemical sector also led the market in term of value of shares traded in 2009 amounting to SR299.90 billion or 23.7 percent of the total value traded, followed by the Insurance sector at SR201.11 billion or 15.91 percent and the Banks & Financial Services sector at SR149.42 billion or 11.82 percent of the total value traded.

The Insurance sector was the most active sector in term of number of transactions with 8.58 million trades that represent 23.55 percent of the total transactions executed during the year, followed by the Petrochemical Industries sector with 5.93 million trades or 16.28 percent and the Agriculture & Food Industries sector with 3.47 million trades or 9.51 percent of the total transactions during 2009.

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