JEDDAH, 31 August 2005 — After flirting with 15,000 mark, the Saudi stock index suffered 66.54 points fall yesterday. The Tadawul All Shares Index (TASI) closed slightly lower at 14,834.32 points.
Out of 77 stocks, 42 were traded lower yesterday while 32 were higher.
The 313.99 points decline in Industrial index pulled Saudi Basic Industries Corp. shares down at SR1,642.
Only Services and Agriculture indices were higher yesterday.
The Insurance index dropped 22.19 points lower at 1,733.14. The National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI) shares closed 1.26 percent down at SR624.75.
Saudi Automotive Service Co. (SASCO) shares gained 5.69 percent at SR590 while Al-Ahsa Development Co. shares closed at SR352.75, up 4.36 percent.
Al-Ahsa has received a license from the Commerce and Industry Ministry to establish a cement factory in Al-Ahsa with an annual capacity of 900,000 tons.
The company is now completing the necessary formalities to establish the factory, which is expected to provide 270 new job opportunities.
However, shares of Assir Trading, Tourism and Manufacturing Co. dropped 1.61 percent at SR580.75 followed by Saudi Advanced Industries Co. shares which closed 1.51 percent down at SR588.
Financial analyst Muhammad Al-Dhahiyan has called upon the government to intervene to lead the market in the right track. He claimed that the behavior of most companies was not appropriate and would cause “dangerous complications” in the future. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, he called for quick practical measures to absorb increasing liquidity in the market by floating state-owned shares for public subscription.
Meanwhile, Eastern Cement Company has urged its shareholders to deposit their share certificates in the investment funds of their banks and provide the company with information related to their shares. It’s shares gained slightly at SR771.
Yanbu Cement Company said it would increase its production capacity from 12,000 to 15,000 tons daily and start manufacturing paper bags for the distribution of cement. Its shares closed yesterday at SR682.25, up 0.81 percent.
Also yesterday, the Qasim Cement Company urged its shareholders to renew their share certificates and deposit them at their banks’ investment funds. However, its shares dropped 1.13 percent at SR850.25.
However, the Saudi Investment Bank’s (SAIB’s) GCC Equity Fund achieved 120.48 percent return since its inception on July 24, 2004, and 72.73 percent since Jan. 1, 2005. Saudi Equity Fund also posted 143.84 percent return since its inception on July 24, 2004, and 81.91 percent since January this year, according to advertisements that appeared in local newspaper on Monday.
