Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) ended the last week of February on the worst decline in 26 weeks, over fears about the coronavirus.

The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) lost 4.73% or 379 points, its biggest loss since the week ended on 26 August 2019, to close the week at the level of 7,628.34 points.

Stock markets across the Arabian Gulf region are increasingly concerned with the outbreak of the coronavirus, which pushed the downward performance, economic consultant Ibrahim Alfailakawi told Mubasher, adding that this situation will not persist with markets across the world adapting to the epidemic, unless more cases are announced in the region.

It is worth noting that Saudi Arabia has halted travel for umrah and tourism from countries endangered by the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

The decline came on the back of losses by most of the market sectors, except for technology and application that rose by 1.66%, while consumer services led the decrease and fell by 8.8%, followed by the media sector losing 8.3%.

The telecom, materials, and banks sector indices plunged by 7.2%, 6.2%, and 4.7%, in that order.

Similarly, the energy sector closed the week down by 1.7%.

Traded volumes increased to 784.6 million shares, compared with 577.1 million shares in the previous week, recording an average of 156.9 million shares.

Meanwhile, traded values increased by 40.4% to SAR 19.9 billion, compared with SAR 14.17 billion in the previous week.