(MENAFN - Arab News) The Saudi stock market continued to drop along with other Gulf Arab stock markets which also fell yesterday. The Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) declined 85.65 points or 0.99 percent to close at 8,504.72. The index is down 22.96 percent so far this year.
The stock market turnover was a mere SR2.98 billion yesterday.
Tadawul is also gearing up to implement the new tick size (new price change unit) from Sept. 13. This comes after completing all the testing successfully with the brokerage firms and the data vendors, Tadawul announced on its website yesterday. The new bands will be as follows: 5 halalas for shares SR25.00 or Below, 10 halalas for shares between SR25.10 to SR50.00, and 25 halalas for SR50.25 and above.
The Saudi Stock Exchange started displaying the substantial shareholdings of the listed companies on its website from Aug. 16 to enable investors to view all substantial shareholders who own 5 percent or more of each company's shares.
In a major development in August, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) allowed authorized persons to enter into swap agreements with non-resident foreign investors whether institutions or individuals, to transfer the economic benefits of the Saudi companies' shares listed on the Tadawul while authorized persons retain the legal ownership of the shares.
In its monthly report for August, Tadawul said TASI closed at 8,757.04 points at the end of August, 16.3 points or 0.19 percent higher over the close of the previous month.
On an YTD basis TASI lost 2,281.62 points or 20.67 percent. Highest close level for the index during the month was 8,981.99 as on Aug. 26.
Total equity market capitalization at the end of August reached SR1.70 trillion (452 billion), decreasing by 0.02 percent over the previous month.
The total value of shares traded in August dropped 34.95 percent to reach SR106.23 billion (28.33 billion), while the total number of shares traded declined 28.31 percent to 2.88 billion shares in August compared to 4.02 billion shares traded in July. The total number of transactions executed during August fell 34.79 percent to 3.62 million compared to 5.55 million trades in July 2008.
While giving a break-up of trades, Tadawul said the percentage share of Saudi nationals from the market trades was 91 percent (SR96.70 billion) for selling and 89.3 percent for buying (SR94.85 billion). The percentage share of Saudi companies from the market trades was 2 percent for selling (SR2.17 billion) and 3.6 percent for buying (SR3.86 billion).
The percentage share of investment funds from the market trades was 2.2 percent for selling (SR2.37 billion) and 2 percent for buying (SR2.16 billion). The percentage share of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals from the market trades was 2.9 percent for selling (SR3.10 billion) and 3.6 percent for buying (SR3.80 billion).
The percentage share of Arab residents in Saudi Arabia from the market trades was 1.6 percent for selling (SR1.73 billion) and 1.3 percent for buying (SR1.42 billion). The percentage share of foreign residents in Saudi Arabia from the market trades was 0.1 percent for selling (SR154.41 million) and 0.1 percent for buying (SR143.50 million).
The BMG Saudi Index ended the week with a 0.8 percent decrease in yesterday's session to reach a closing level of 456.48 points.
The total market turnover fell by 4.5 percent to SR1.6 billion (433 million) against SR1.7 million (453 million) on Tuesday.
All the sectors witnessed losses. The worst performers were the industrial and the insurance sectors, both depreciating by 1.1 percent.
The telecommunications sector declined by 0.5 percent, whereas the banking and the services sector both fell by 0.3 percent.
Six shares went up, while 17 went down and seven stood still. The best performer was Emaar, The Economic City, ascending by 1.4 percent to SR18.75. The worst performer was Allied Cooperative Insurance Group, dropping by 2.5 percent to SR59.25.
With regard to the index's leading shares, Al-Rajhi Bank decreased by 0.3 percent to SR85.25, and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) fell by 2.0 percent to SR120, again helping to pull the overall market down, given their weightings in the index.
