The Saudi equity market sustained upward trend last month with Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) increasing 19.6 percent in April to close at 5,625.51 points or a gain of 921.76 points against the preceding month. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the index jumped 17.13 percent or 822.52 points. Tadawul said on its website that the total equity market capitalization at the end of April 2009 reached SR1,058.12 billion ($282.16 billion), or an increase of 19.67 percent over the previous month. Tadawul appeared to buck global downturn as further indicated by brisk trading on the first trading day for the month of May, with TASI closing at 5,664.11 or an increase of 0.33 percent. SABB Takaful emerged as the top gaining stock, advancing by 10 percent. Market bellwether Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) posted the largest trading value in Saturday's session, gaining 1.90 percent. However, other insurers were on the investors' selling list, with Sanad Insurance and Reinsurance and Allied Cooperative Insurance Group both losing a tenth of their values. In April, the total value of shares traded reached SR131.67 billion ($35.11 billion), jumping 50.64 percent over the previous month. Moreover, the total number of shares traded increased by 32.60 percent to 6.51 billion shares compared to 4.91 billion shares traded during the previous month. The total number of transactions rose by 18.89 percent at 3.79 million in April compared to 3.19 million trades a month ago. Saudi nationals took the bulk of trade in April, selling 91.6 percent of the trade at SR120.66 billion and posting 89.1 percent for buying at SR117.30 billion. Saudi companies accounted for 2.2 percent of selling at SR2.90 billion and 3.1 percent of buying at SR4.11 billion. Investment funds comprised 2 percent for selling at SR2.63 billion and 3 percent for buying at SR3.96 billion. Gulf Cooperation Council nationals represented 1.6 percent of the traded shares at SR2.11 billion and 1.6 percent for buying at SR2.10 billion. For the month of April, Arab residents in Saudi Arabia constituted 2.1 percent of the selling activity at SR2.79 billion and 2 percent for buying at SR2.69 billion. Other foreigners residing in the Kingdom managed to gain 0.2 percent of the selling activity at SR313.20 million and 0.2 percent of buying transaction at SR277.59 million. The percentage share of foreigners via swap agreement from the market trades was 0.2 percent for selling at SR269.18 million and (0.9 percent for buying at SR1.23 billion. __
