Saudi shares drop to lowest in four weeksJEDDAH - Saudi stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index shrank for a fifth day on Saturday, closing at 6,033.91 points or a drop of 0.98 percent – sending the index to its lowest level since June 8. Petrochemical companies and banks led the downhill swing. Worries about second quarter results for Saudi companies as well as concerns over the pace of global economic recovery contributed to the decline. The US equities, dollar and oil fell on Friday after a weak US jobs report rekindled doubts about the strength of recovery, yet failed to confirm widespread fears the economy is dipping back into recession. All Tadawul sectoral indices were in the red, with Hotel & Tourism, Industrial Investment, and Petrochemical Industries logging the biggest decline at 1.75 percent, 1.73 percent and 1.52 percent, respectively. SABIC decreased 2 percent to SR84 ($22.40). Samba declined 1.3 percent to SR56.25, and Saudi British dropped 3.1 percent to three-month low of SR40.7. Jabal Omar Development Co., a real-estate developer in Makkah, advanced 0.3 percent to SR18.35 after its second-quarter loss narrowed to SR7.6 million from SR18.3 million in the year-earlier period. SABIC's unit Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co. (Safco) gained 4.1 percent to SR133.7 after it decided to distribute a dividend of SR1.5 billion, or SR6 a share, for the first half of the year. Meanwhile, in the first half of 2010, TASI gained 497.30 points or 8.89 percent at 6,093.76 points over the close of the same period last year. However, on an YTD basis, TASI lost 28.00 (0.46 percent). Highest close level for the index during the period was 6,929.40 points recorded on April 26, 2010. Total equity market capitalization at the end of first half reached SR1,198.45 billion ($319.59 billion), increasing by 11.55 percent over the same period of the previous year. The total value of shares traded in the first half reached SR455.71 billion ($121.52 billion), a drop of 41.58 percent over the same period of last year. The total number of shares traded reached 19.62 billion shares compared to 38.34 billion shares traded during the same period last year, or a 48.83 percent fall. The total number of transactions executed in the period covered reached 11.66 million as against 22.63 million trades the previous year, a decline of 48.45 percent. Moreover, the total value of traded shares in June 2010 decreased 22.69 percent at SR77.70 billion as against SR100.50 billion in May. The percentage share of Saudi nationals from the market trades was 90.6 percent for selling at SR70.40 billion and 85.6 percent for buying at SR66.54 billion. The percentage share of Saudi companies from the market trades was 2.7 percent for selling at SR2.07 billion and 7.3 percent for buying at SR5.69 billion. The percentage share of investment funds from the market trades was 2.2 percent for selling at SR1.74 billion and 2.9 percent for buying at SR2.22 billion. The percentage share of GCC nationals from the market trades was 1.4 percent for selling at SR1.05 billion and 1.5 percent for buying at SR1.16 billion. The percentage share of Arab residents in Saudi Arabia from the market trades was 1.6 percent for selling at SR1.22 billion and 1.5 percent for buying at SR1.18 billion. The percentage share of foreigners residents in Saudi Arabia from the market trades was 0.2 percent for selling at SR179.01 million and 0.2 percent for buying at SR147.32 million. The percentage share of foreigners via swap agreement from the market trades was 1.3 percent for selling at SR1.03 billion and 1.0 percent for buying at SR759.73 million.
