Riyadh - Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) retreated on Thursday amid a negative performance of all sectors and significant improvement in liquidity.

The main index went down 0.71%, or 49.06 points to reach 6,899 points.

Turnover ​​amounted to SAR 3.15 billion ($838.7 million) on Thursday from SAR 2.6 billion ($696.8 million) on Wednesday. Trading volume rose to 185.38 million shares from 142.59 million shares.

All sectors declined, led by the media sector with 6.1%, as Tihama fell 9.86% to reach SAR 39.4.

The basic materials sector went down 0.74%, with SABIC and SAFCO dropping 1.2% and 1.7% to SAR 97.25 and SAR 67.75, respectively

The banks sector lost 0.39% with Al Rajhi Bank declining 0.38% to SAR 63.50, while National Commercial Bank (Al Ahli) increased 0.50% to SAR 38.30.

The telecom sector went down 0.23%, dragged by Etisalat, Mobily, and Zain which fell 0.2%, 0.88%, and 2.26%, respectively.

Wafa Insurance was the biggest loser with 9.98%, followed by 133 stocks.

On the contrary, 31 stocks went up, led by Al Babtain which surged 4.1% to reach SAR 31.5.

SABIC was the most active stock, with a turnover of SAR 486.367 million, while Dar Al Arkan led in terms of volume with 47.4 million shares, gaining 0.33% to SAR 6.