By: Thabet Shehata

Riyadh - Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exhange (Tadawul) ended Monday’s trading session in red, due to the negative performance of the majority of the market sectors.

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) went down 0.96%, losing 68.28 points, and closing at the level of 7,071.9 points, maintaining its level above 7,000 points.

Market analyst, Rayan Al-Kharashi said that recent weak trade activity in the Saudi market is due to the absence of stimulus, with part of liquidity directed to the parallel market.

Nomu - Parallel Market offers new opportunities with many companies with small capital that is easy to control with high fluctuations, which could be attractive to investors with qualified portfolios, Al-Kharashi indicated.

Traded values increased to SAR 3.86 billion ($1.03 billion), its highest level since 8 February, compared to SAR 3.56 billion ($948.8 million), while volumes reached 220 million shares up from 206.27 million shares on Sunday.

As for the sectors performance, insurance led the decliners and slipped 2.38%, as all of its stocks fell except for Arabian Shield and Al Rajhi Cooperative Insurance, which gained 2.3%, and 0.3% respectively.

The banks sector lost 0.84%, as Al Rajhi and NCB went down by 1.16% and 0.21%, closing at SAR 64.75 and SAR 42 respectively.

The materials index also fell 0.83%, as SABIC slipped 0.34% to SAR 97.25, while SAFCO lost 0.79% and closed at the level of SAR 70.75.

The telecom sector also declined 0.95%, as STC and Mobily both went down by 1.29% and 0.14%, closing at SAR 66 and 22 respectively.

Meanwhile, Al-Ahlia was the session’s biggest losing stock as it dropped 9.75% to SAR 6.85, while Atheeb Telecom led the gainers and surged 6%, and closed at SAR 31.10.

SABIC registered the biggest turnover with SAR 202.9 million, while Dar Al Arkan was the most active in traded volumes with 30.36 million shares.

Translated by: Moslem Ali