* Ahmed Al-Rasheed from Riyadh
Saudi stocks steadied slightly; it lost only two points to close at 8449 points, after two sessions of retreat.
The market was able to offset losses during the session with increased liquidity, which was showing continued buyers activity.
The drop comes due to Al Rajhi shares, the main drag on the index.
The basic materials sector played a key role in facing banking pressure and returning the market to the opening levels.
Keeping the market at current levels and an average of 21 days keeps the chances of a rebound and return to new levels as high as 8620 or 8800 points, when the second quarter results show growth.
Overall market performance
The general index opened at 8452 points, trading between high and low. The highest point was at 8457 points, 0.06 per cent, while the lowest point was 0.3 per cent.
At the end of the session, the index closed at 8,449 points, losing 0.03 points.
Liquidity rose 13 percent to reach SR 3.2 billion by about SR 366 million and the average transaction value was 35,000 riyals.
Traded shares increased 4% by about 4.4 million traded shares to reach 112 million shares at a rate of 0.21%.
The deals fell 3 per cent by nearly 3,000 to reach 90,000 deals.
Sectors performance
Ten sectors rose against the decline of the rest.
The rise was led by “Media” by 9 per cent, followed by “consumer services” by 1.4 per cent and “food fragmentation” by 1.4 per cent.
The decline was led by "food production" of 1.5%, followed by "transport" of 0.77%, and "long-term goods" of 0.45%.
The highest turnovers were "Basic Materials" by 36 percent at a value of 1.1 billion riyals, followed by "banks" by 30 per cent with a value of 952 million riyals, and "Insurance" by 10 per cent, amounting to 315 million riyals.
Stock performance
The highest performing shares were "SRMG" which closed at the maximum at SAR106, followed by "ANAAM HOLDING" by 3.95% to close at SAR11.58, and then “NAMAA” by 3.89% closing at SAR 29.40.
On the other hand, the decline was led by “Enaya” by 6.3 per cent to close at SAR 29.05, followed by “Alinma Tokyo M” by 3.6 per cent to close at SAR 20.48, and “SGS” by 3.2 per cent to close at SAR 36.45.
“SABIC” was the top performer with a market capitalization of SAR 671 million, followed by “Alinma” of 19 per cent that valued at SR 610 million, and “Al Rajhi” by 5 per cent with a value of SR 155 million.
* Economic Reports Unit
