The Saudi bourse’s benchmark reversed yesterday’s downtrend, rising 0.78% or 83.24 points to close Monday at 10757.41 pts compared with 10674.17 pts yesterday.
The index got a push from the Banking sector which rose 1.47%. Building & Construction ranked second, gaining 1.3%, followed by Transport (+1.27%).
On the other hand, Energy & Utilities was the only sector that headed south today, falling 0.69%.
Despite today’s uptrend, the trading activity declined to its lowest level before the announcement of opening up the market for foreigners. Turnover decreased 6.51% from SAR 6.72 billion on Sunday to SAR 6.28 billion, the lowest since July 21 when it reached SAR 5.4 billion. Today’s turnover is 26.96% lower than the weekly average of SAR 8.6 billion and 36.76% below the monthly average of SAR 9.93 billion.
Trading volume also dropped 5.66% from 190.4 million shares to 179.65 million shares. Today’s trading volume is 31.23% lower than the weekly average of 261.2 million shares and 40.90% below the monthly average of 304 million shares.
Wrapping up stocks, advancers outperformed decliners by 104 to 33. Al-Ahli Takaful led the way on gains, soaring 5.71%, followed by AXA (+5.55%) and Arabian Pipes (+5.28%).
On the negative side, Salama was the major disappointment, dropping 3.12%, followed by Bupa Arabia (-2.48%) and Arabia Insurance (-2.29%)
Alinma Bank was the most active – for the second straight day - in terms of trading volume and value, after 21.96 million shares were exchanged at a turnover of SAR 520.46 million.
(Written by Mohammed Abu Meleeh; Translated by Abdul Maguid Aboshahla )