(CCFI) – The Saudi Market continued its up trend and made new heights with a gain of 0.91percent this week. The CCFI all share index which opened lower at 164.18 from its previous close of 165.12 reached a peak of 166.92 on 26th July, before closing little lower at 166.63 thus gaining 0.91percent in the process. The Sectoral indices showed a mixed trend with Banking, Cement and Service showing positive return and Industrial, Electricity and Agricultural showing negative returns. The Banking sector was the major gainer with a gain of 1.86percent. Eight out of nine stocks in this sector posted positive returns. The industrial sector which witnessed profit booking dropped by 0.19percent. Eleven of the twenty-one stocks of the Industrial sector returned negatively. The number of trades was lower with 10633 trades taking place compared to 13213 trades last week. Banking attracted the most with nearly 33percent of the trades generated from this sector.
On the Volume front, Services sector led with more than 38percent volume coming from this sector. The Banking sector led the value traded with 54percent of the market turnover. The market turnover for the week was down compared to last week whereas the volume moved up. This clearly indicates that the attraction towards the low priced stock for the week.
The better corporate performances and the possible boom in the economy due to higher Oil prices is likely to keep the markets in the bullish mood. The Oil prices are also well within the band ($22-$28 per barrel) specified by the OPEC thereby not putting pressure on the members to increase the output in the near future. The Oil price as on 28th July was $27.35 per barrel (Brent).
TEN MOST ACTIVE SHARES
All the top 10 stocks returned positive except for 3 stocks, which made nil return. Two top price gainers Construction and SASCO also figured in the volume list. The market leader SABIC, which dragged the market to greater heights, saw more than 10percent of the market volume changing hands. As stated earlier, the low priced stocks were in the limelight led by Construction, where more than 2 million shares changed hands. Al Rajhi is continuing to make gains as it posted a return of 3.54percent and stands at SR 717.00 a new high taking into consideration the split and the bonus effected in 1998. The top 10 active stocks continued to dominate the market with nearly 68percent of the market volume generated out of these stocks. Shipping Company with seven percent of market volume and Livestock with four percent of market volume were some of the other stocks that were active this week.
GAINERS & LOSERS
This week witnessed 6 stocks showing a price variation of more than five percent. Of these five stocks posted positive returns where as one returned negative. As stated earlier SASCO was the major gainer with 8.16percent followed by Aseer with 6.25percent. Among the losers only Saudi Fisheries was the major loser with returns exceeding five percent. Makkah, which made excellent gain of 8.45percent last week, retreated by SR 7 to close at SR230.50.
