Saudi Market continued to show the positive trend it has been witnessing for the past two weeks. The CCFI Index opened this week at 159.79 up from previous week’s close of 159.55, It touched a peak of 160.78 before closing at 160.40 thus gaining 0.53% in the process. Banking Sector index was the major gainer with an increase of 1.73% to close at 215.09 points. The Sectoral indices showed mixed trend with Banking, Industrial and Agricultural indices making gains and the rest losing this week. The stock wise activity was mixed with 27 stocks moving up and 29 moving down. This week witnessed a drop in the number of trades compared to last week, with just 8898 trades for the week compared to 11030 last week.
On the volume front, Service sector was the leader with nearly 39% of the total market volume, but the value proportion was just about 10% showing activity in the low priced stocks. The Banking sector, which is likely to see most of the banks reporting its half yearly results in the coming weeks has already started witnessing good activity. The Sector has contributed more than 50% of the turnover for this week. Out of the nine stocks in the Banking sector eight have shown a price rise. Gulf International Bank is planning to start its operation in the kingdom with its head office in Riyadh.
The oil market was jittery on the announcement of the Saudi Oil Minister to increase production by 500,000 bpd if the price remains above $30/b. The price retreated to $29.35 per barrel on Friday. We may watch for more corporate half yearly results in the coming weeks and the market is likely to dance to its tunes.
TAB MARKET IN FOCUS
As stated earlier Service sector was the most active sector for the week with 4 stocks figuring in the top ten active lists. Livestock was the most active stock with 2.25 million shares changing hands for a price appreciation of just 25 hallalahs. NIC which has plans to raise SR 500million by the end of July’2000 was the next to follow generating nearly 10% of the market volume. The concentration of the volume towards few stocks is clearly seen this week with nearly 72% of the market volume generated from the top 10 stocks.
TAB TEN MOST ACTIVE SHARES
Gainers & Losers
This week, 8 stocks showed price variation of more than 5%. Faitaihi, the newly listed stock moved up by 62%, with 18412 shares changing hands in 72 trades. Zujaj was the next to follow with a price rise of 10%. Advanced industries has been witnessing price drop continuously from its peak of SR 44.50 which it attained in the first week of June’00. Al Fransi Bank, which is the first to announce its half-year result, moved up by more than 5%. (CCFI)
TAB Gainers/Losers
