Tadawul declines after early rise

The Saudi Stock market was in the red yesterday, reflecting an upper hand of bears.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI), while gaining a single point earlier yesterday and then changing its direction toward south and spending the entire session in the same territory, closed lower at 6,641.1, trimming 59.26 points or 0.88 percent for the day. The trading range expanded slightly to 68 points as compared to previous day's 55 points.
Four out of Tadawul's fifteen sectors ended the day in green territory, accumulating only 54.26 points collectively. Remaining eleven sectors lost an aggregate of 551.71 points for the day.
Real Estate Development and Transport sectors were major decliners, shedding 1.85 percent and 1.5 percent respectively. Banking sector also lost 195.14 points or 1.26 percent from its previous level. The Insurance sector changed its position from worst performing sector of previous day to the top performer of the day, advancing by 1.95 percent.
Major heavy weights closed in red; where SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) dipped by 3.1 percent, Samba Financial Group 3.05 percent and SABB 2.13 percent. Saudi Telecom, however, advanced 1.77 percent over the day.
Decliners outnumbered the advancers by a margin of 87 to 51 and the prices of 16 companies remained unchanged.
Insurance stocks continued to dominate the market performance, filling the top gainer and loser charts consecutively.
Amana Insurance remained prominent for the third straight day, surging by 9.91 percent to close at SR 94.25. An appreciation of 29.7 percent in the value of Amana Insurance has been recorded in three days.