By Mohamed Abu Meleeh

Riyadh-Mubasher: The Saudi stock market plummeted on Wednesday to record its biggest loss in more than three-and-a-half months, with traders dumping equities as Saudi Arabia started building up forces at Yemen's borders to prevent any assaults by Houthi rebels.

Meanwhile, Yemen's embattled president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, asked the UN Security Council to authorise military intervention in support of his government and oust Houthi rebels who control much of the country's north and are advancing south.

The benchmark index TASI plunged by 4.96% or 463 points, the biggest point loss since mid-December 2014.

The market slide Wednesday was mainly triggered by individuals who dominated most trading activity, said Fahd Albogami, a member of securities committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce.

Retail traders are usually easily affected by political events, as when the kingdom announced in September 2014 that it had joined an alliance to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the analyst added.

However, he affirmed that the fundamentals of the Saudi market are strong and reassuring, describing today’s decline as “temporary,” after which the market will resume its normal activity.

The market’s sectors moved lower, led by real estate development (-9.04%) which was also weighed by the Saudi cabinet’s approval to impose taxes on undeveloped land plots in urban areas.

Meanwhile, the retail sector tailed the list, the least hurt by the transient crises while still benefitting the most from Saudi Arabia’s robust economy, analysts said.

Wednesday’s traded activity gained momentum, as turnover rose to SAR 11.96 billion from SAR 8.86 billion, while traded volume increased to 470.9 million shares from 352.45 million shares.

Listed stocks moved lower collectively, except for Tihama which bucked the downtrend and ended relatively unchanged. Solidarity stock was the biggest loser (-10%), followed by SABB Takaful (-9.99%) and Alujain (-9.97%).

Translated by Sayed Abdel Rahman