Saudi stocks fell after Thursday’s close, as losses in the Industrial Investment, Financial Services and Building & Construction sectors led shares lower. At the close in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi General Index was down 0.69%.
Among today’s leading stocks in the Saudi General Index, Saudi Real Estate Company (TADAWUL:4020), which rose 4.76% or 0.66 points to 14.52 at the close. Arabian Centres Company (TADAWUL:4321) rose 3.96% or 0.80 points to close at 21.00, while Saudi Automobile Services Company (TADAWUL:4050)) increased 3.61% or 2.50 points at 71.80 at the end of the session.
As for the weaker performance at the close today, National Medical Care (TADAWUL:4005) closed down 4.65% or 7.60 points and traded at 156.00 at the close. Al Sagr Cooperative Insurance (TADAWUL:8180) fell 3.41% or 0.88 points to 24.92, while BATIC Investment & Logistics (TADAWUL:4110)) by 3.21% or 0.07 points at 2.11.
The number of declining shares outnumbered the number of gainers on the Saudi Stock Exchange by 186 shares against 83 shares, and 25 shares closed unchanged.
Shares of Saudi Real Estate Company (Tadawul: 4020) rose to their highest level in 52 weeks. Gain 4.76% or 0.66 to 14.52. Shares of Saudi Automotive Services Company (Tadawul: 4050) rose to a five-year high, rising 3.61% or 2.50 to 71.80.
Crude oil futures for February delivery fell 1.09%, or 0.81, to close at $73.41 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent crude contracts for February delivery fell 1.07% or 0.85 to $78.85 a barrel, while February gold futures rose 0.08% or 1.60 to close at $2,049.30 an ounce.
EUR/SAR rose 0.36% to 4.12, while USD/SAR gained 0.01% to 3.75.
Saudi market declines due to losses in banks and basic materials
The general index of the market “TASI” ended its trading down 0.69%, with losses of 80.97 points, falling to the level of 11,621.93 points. The value of trading fell to 5.25 billion riyals compared to 5.77 billion riyals in the previous session, after trading volumes fell to about 201 million shares, compared to 228.97 million shares, at the end of Wednesday’s session.
The performance of the sectors was dominated by the red color, with the banking sector leading the losses of major sectors after falling by 1.37%, the telecommunications sector fell by 0.56%, and the losses of the energy and basic materials sectors amounted to 0.28% and 0.24%, respectively.
Gains were limited to 4 sectors, led by the applications and technology services sector, which closed up 1.02%, followed by the luxury goods retail sector with a rise of 0.62%. In terms of stock performance, losses included 154 shares, led by “Care” after falling 4.65%, and 63 stocks closed in green, led by “Real Estate”, which closed up 4.76.%.
Saudi Aramco’s shares recorded the highest trading value of SAR 370.38 million, and the highest quantities were Americana’s shares, with a volume of 20.61 million shares, and the parallel market witnessed a positive performance, closing the index (growth upper limit) up 0.23%, equivalent to 55.1 points, rising to the level of 23,782.05 points. The shares of “Automated Center” led the gains of the parallel market, after rising 8.15%, and the highest gains were for “Al-Rashid Industry”, which closed down 10.35%. The Saudi stock market “Tadawul” ended Wednesday’s session with a marginal decline of 0.09%, to return its losses after 10 sessions of rise, pressured by the banking and basic materials sectors.
Saudi stocks tumbled on geopolitical tensions
The geopolitical events resulting from the escalation of the war in Palestine took a remarkable development in the Middle East and the Red Sea in particular, during the last ten days of this December, which raised the pace of caution in the stock markets in the region, whose annual performance varied amid confusion between recession fears and high interest rates, and the impact of global stock exchanges.
According to official data of the stock markets, the gains of the Arab stock exchanges, which were profitable at the annual level, were reduced, but not due to those events, but were affected by the tendency of some to retain liquidity before the Christmas holidays..
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange index remained down by 7%, the first index of Boursa Kuwait remained down by 7.7%, the Qatar Stock Exchange index fell by 3.7%, and the Muscat Securities Market index fell by 6%.%.
Globally, at the beginning of 2023, there were fears of a decline in stock markets in general, in light of the looming fears of economic recession, excessive inflation rates, and strong monetary tightening policies resorted to by central banks, led by the US Federal Reserve.
But as the US economy continued to consolidate and grow at a moderate pace, stock markets managed to record remarkable gains, as the S&P 500 index rose by 20% to settle near the levels of 4700 points, and it did not stop there, but the US Dow Jones index rose to new historical highs recently, and the Nasdaq, which rose by more than 50%.
Raed Al-Khader, head of research at London-based Equity Group, said that these geopolitical events have been overtaken by the investor in the global stock markets and in the Middle East because they are within a specific scope or country..
Saudi stock index declines as weekly profits
The Saudi stock market index closed trading today lower for the second consecutive session, but nevertheless managed to achieve weekly profits after recording its highest level in 4 months this week, and the Saudi General Stock Index (TASI) fell by about 80.97 points to the level of 11,621.93 points, while recording a weekly profit of about 1.60%, and the volume of trading reached 201 million shares, with an estimated value of about 5.2 billion Saudi riyals, through 396.4 thousand transactions..
With regard to Saudi stock trading today, the shares of real estate companies, Sinomi Centers, SASCO, Aldrees and Amlak were the most high, while the shares of Care companies, Al Sagr Insurance, Batic, Astra Industrial and Al Amar were the most declining in trading, and the ratios of rise and fall ranged between 2.98% and 4.76% in the Saudi stock market trading.
On the other hand, the Saudi Stock Trading Index for the Parallel Market (Nomu Upper Limit) closed today’s trading, up by about 55.10 points, to close at 23,782.05 points, with a trading volume of 14.5 million Saudi riyals, and the volume of trading shares within the parallel Saudi stock market reached about 0.728 million shares, through 2,592 deals..
As for the performance of companies in the Saudi stock indexes today, the main TASI index saw 63 companies rise at the close, while shares of 154 companies fell. At the same time, the Saudi stock index for the parallel market witnessed a rise in the shares of 20 companies, and a decline in the shares of 31 companies during trading, until the close of the session.
