The Saudi bourse maintained its rally for the second straight day, rising 0.91% or 97.38 points to close at 10854.79 pts compared with 10757.41 pts yesterday.
The Banking & Financial Services sector continued pushing the market higher for the second straight day, rising 1.23%. Building & Construction topped advancers, with a jump of 1.88%. It was followed by Hotel & Tourism which added 1.50%.
On the other hand, Media & Publishing was the only sector that headed south today, falling 0.09%.
Trading activity improved slightly today, as turnover increased 3% (SAR 188.59 million) from SAR 6.28 billion on Monday to SAR 6.47 billion. Today’s turnover is 19.25% lower than the weekly average of SAR 8 billion and 33.68% below the monthly average of SAR 9.76 billion.
Trading volume also grew 2.89% from 179.65 million shares to 184.85 million shares. Today’s trading volume is 23.34% lower than the weekly average of 241.12 million shares and 37.75% below the monthly average of 296.93 million shares.
Wrapping up stocks, advancers outperformed decliners by 113 to 27. Malath Insurance led the way on gains, soaring 9.98%, followed by Medgulf (+7.02%) and Alhokair (+3.95%). On the negative side, AXA was the major disappointment, dropping 3.10%, followed by Thimar (-2.11%) and Arabian Pipes (-1.94%).
Alinma Bank was the most active – for the third straight day - in terms of trading volume and value, after 25.56 million shares were exchanged at a turnover of SAR 620.25 million.
(Written by Mohammed Abu Meleeh; Translated by Abdul Maguid Aboshahla )