Saudi- Agriculture, tourism sectors dominate trading

(MENAFN- Arab News) The Saudi stock market continued its positive drive yesterday, marking another solid gain of 0.65 percent. Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (TASI) edged higher by 51.28 points to 7,915.11 points. It went 53.12 points above and 10.32 points below the break-even line during the day. TASI also logged a healthy YTD return of 16.38 percent. Large cap with 0.72 percent upward jump remained prominent among the market cap indices. Sectoral performance was tremendous, as 11 out of Tadawul's 15 sectors closed in the upward territory, reflecting an accumulation of 878 points. Agriculture and Tourism sectors outperformed among the sectoral indices, surging 2.22 percent and 2.12 percent respectively. Banking sector added considerable 186 points, up more than one percent. On the other hand, Insurance sector was a significant decliner, shedding over one percent. Al-Rajhi Bank, Riyad Bank and SABB showed a tremendous performance among big players, advancing 1.32 percent, 1.0 percent and 1.0 percent respectively. The market breadth was also positive, with 75 stocks witnessing advances and 66 others marking a decline. After a gap of one session, Aljazira Takaful Taawuni Company regained its topping position at Tadawul, reflecting an increment of SR 2.1 or 9.86 percent. Emaar the Economic City was another significant advancer, surging by 9.39 percent. Emaar with trades over 53 million shares worth SR584.5 million topped the volume and value charts, capturing nearly 19 percent of the overall market volume. A good amount of volume roughly 283 million shares was liquidated at Tadawul, a decrease of two percent from the previous level but still it was 25 percent greater than 50-day average of 226.6 million shares.