.Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) saw a positive performance last week, after three weeks of declines.

The main index rose 3.77% or 259 points to reach 7,134.88 points.

Market value gained SAR 64 billion ($17 billion) to reach SAR 1.669 trillion ($445 billion), compared to SAR 1.605 trillion ($428billion) last week. 

The utilities sector topped the gaining sectors and hiked 11.4%, supported by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and GASCO which levelled up 10.37% to SAR 22.25 and 19.94% to SAR 36.45, respectively.

The materials sectors also increased 5.28%, after SABIC and SAFCO went up 4.38% to SAR 96.93 and 3.34% to SAR 73.60, respectively.

The banks sector added 3.54%, as the National Commercial Bank (NCB) and Al Rajhi Bank gained 4.59% to SAR 44.01 and 3.21% to SAR 65.03, respectively.

The telecommunication sector hiked 6.28%, backed by Saudi Telecom Company (STC) which rose 4.34% to SAR 69.19, while Mobily and Zain KSA increased 11.3% to SAR 22.68 and 8% to SAR 8.87, respectively.

On the other hand, the commercial and professional services sector fell 4%, weighted by Saudi Airlines Catering which lost 4.5% to SAR 94.57.

Turnover increased 21.7% to SAR 24.84 billion ($6.62 billion) compared to SAR 20.4 billion ($5.44 billion) in the previous week, so that the average value of one session reaches SAR 4.97 billion.

Traded volume also added 25% to 1.38 billion shares compared to 1.1 billion last week, so that the average volume of one session reaches 277 million shares.

Umm Al Qura topped the weekly gains by a 27.23% increase to SAR 21.26, while National Medical Care led the losing stocks and declined 11.91% to SAR 55.04.

Al Inma Bank was the most active in terms of traded value of SAR 2.02 billion, adding 2.93%, while Dar Al Arkan was the most active in terms of traded volume trading 267.57 million shares, rising 6.17%.