TASI sheds 2.2%, weighed down by major market players: Closing bell

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s stock market closed lower on Sunday, tracking a drop in oil prices after China imposed new COVID-19 lockdown measures.

The main TASI index lost 2.2 percent to 12,322, and the parallel market Nomu shed 2.3 percent to 21,737.

This was driven by losses in some of TASI’s heavyweights, with oil giant Aramco dropping 3 percent, and the biggest player in the banking sector, Al Rajhi Bank, down 1.2 percent.

Further in the financial sector, Alinma Bank lost 2.2 percent amid trading of over 7 million shares.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., or SABIC, recorded losses amounting to 2.1 percent, and the Kingdom’s largest lender Saudi National Bank slipped 2 percent.

Shares in telecom giant stc added 6.6 percent after its board proposed a SR30 billion ($8 billion) capital hike through granting bonus shares.

While stc led the gainers on TASI, Saudi Industrial Export Co. recorded the biggest drop of 10 percent.

Arabian Food & Dairy Factories Co., known as Fadeco, surged 30 percent to top the gainers on Nomu as it made its stock market debut.

In energy trading, Brent crude settled at $122.01 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate reached $120.67 a barrel on Friday.