(MENAFN - Arab News) Saudi equities spent the entire last week with modest gains. Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index continued its upward march for the third straight week, advancing 1.75 percent further.
Except one dip during the week, the index continued stepping its way higher throughout the session to close in the green at 6,888.59 points, up 118.63 points, from its previous weekend close at 6,769.96 points. Its trading range expanded to 120 points last week.
On year-to-date basis, the TASI has achieved 470.86 points or 7.34 percent growth.
Total market capitalization of Saudi stock exchange also increased by 1.8 percent to SR 1.41 trillion as compared to previous week's SR 1.38 trillion. Dallah Healthcare Holding Company shares began trading on Tadawul last week, contributing its worth to the increased market cap.
Sectoral performance was tremendous, as 11 out of Tadawul's 15 sectors closed in the upward territory, showing a collection of 1,150 points for the entire week. Only four sectors ended in red, paring 122 points jointly.
Multi-Investment and Banking sectors showed the best performance among all sector indices, reflecting a weekly growth of 3.24 percent and 2.72 percent respectively. Insurance sector, on the other hand, suffered the greatest amount of damages, turning down 3.69 percent in a week.
Top ten heavyweights also played well last week, with Kingdom Holding surging by 4.66 percent, SABB 3.62 percent and Saudi Telecom 3.13 percent. Only Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily) closed the week lower, shedding 1.32 percent to SR 74.75.
Weekly market breadth was strong, with 107 stocks witnessing advances and 44 others marking a decline. Furthermore, upside-downside volume ratio of 4:1 remained largely positive.
Mediterranean & Gulf Insurance dominated the weekly performance among all Saudi companies, topping the gainer chart with 19.5 percent positive change. On the contrary, Amana Cooperative Insurance suffered worst of all equities, showing a reduction of SR 79 or 36.2 percent.
The bellwether SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) and Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate remained as most active stocks last week. SABIC with SR 2.94 billion topped the value chart and Dar Al-Arkan with 106.2 million shares occupied the title of volume leader. Both stocks ended the week in green, rising by 4.88 percent and 1.65 percent respectively.
Most of the major benchmark indices at GCC stock markets ended the week in green. Only Bahrain Stock Exchange fell down more than one percent last week.
The benchmark GulfBase GCC General Index closed the week higher to 3,931.39 points level, adding 49.57 points or 1.28 percent for the entire week.
