Saudi equities finished lower on Thursday, with the Tadawul All Share retreating 0.11% at the close. Sector pressure came primarily from Building & Construction, Petrochemicals and Telecoms & IT, which collectively helped push the index into negative territory.
Among individual stocks, marketing and distribution names outperformed, while several major industrial and investment companies posted notable declines.
Session leaders
- Marketing Home Group for Trading Co (TADAWUL:4194) led gains on the board, jumping 9.98% - a rise of 4.10 points - to finish at 45.18.
- Gas Arabian Services Company SCJSC (TADAWUL:4146) climbed 9.97%, adding 1.45 points to close at 16.00.
- AFG International Co (TADAWUL:4240) rose 9.94%, up 1.27 points to 14.05 by the end of trading.
Lagging stocks
- Kingdom Holding Company (TADAWUL:4280) was the weakest large-cap, dropping 5.01% or 0.77 points to 14.60 at the close.
- Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Co (TADAWUL:2380) declined 4.81%, down 0.76 points to finish at 15.03.
- Middle East Paper Co (TADAWUL:1202) fell 3.97%, losing 0.76 points to close at 18.39.
Breadth on the Saudi exchange skewed negative by the close, with 177 stocks down versus 149 advancers and 15 shares ending unchanged.
Commodities and futures
Energy futures moved lower during the session. Crude oil for July delivery was down 3.27% or 3.14 to trade at $92.88 a barrel. Brent for August delivery fell 3.08% or 3.01 to $94.80 a barrel. In contrast, the August Gold Futures contract advanced 1.41% or 63.05 to trade at $4,529.95 a troy ounce.
The US Dollar Index Futures traded lower as well, down 0.31% at 99.19 by the time of the report.
Foreign exchange
Currency pairs involving the Saudi riyal moved modestly: EUR/SAR was up 0.40% to 4.37, while USD/SAR was essentially flat, unchanged by 0.01% at 3.75.
The market closed with disparity between single-session standouts and broad sector weakness, leaving the Tadawul All Share slightly negative for the day.