[2008-05-05]  Saudi Equity Market Cap Jumps to SR1.86 Trillion
The Saudi stock market showed signs of uptrend last month reflecting investor confidence. The announcements of the first quarter results of listed companies also helped surge in the stock market. At the end of April, the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed at 10,066.16 points. The index increased by 11.94 percent or 1,073.63 points in April over the close of the previous month. On an YTD basis TASI lost 972.5 points, or 8.81 percent. Highest close level for the index was 10,089.52 points as on April 29.

According to Tadawul’s monthly statistical report for April, total equity market capitalization at the end of April jumped by 11.19 percent to SR1.86 trillion ($496.55 billion). The total value of traded shares in April also increased by 26.85 percent over the previous month to reach at SR201.65 billion ($53.77 billion).

The total number of shares traded surged 26.20 percent to 5.40 billion compared to 4.28 billion shares traded in March. The total number of transactions executed during April, however, dropped by 4.84 percent to 4.30 million compared to 4.52 million trades for March. The Tadawul report said percentage share of Saudi nationals from the market trades was 91.1 percent for selling (SR183.79 billion) and 89.9 percent for buying (SR181.22 billion). The percentage share of Saudi companies from the market trades was 3.4 percent for selling (SR6.78 billion) and 4.2 percent for buying (SR8.44 billion).

The percentage share of investment funds from the market trades was 2.2 percent for selling (SR4.44 billion) and 2.1 percent for buying (SR4.21 billion). The percentage share of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals from the market trades was 1.7 percent for selling (SR3.51 billion) and 2.3 percent for buying (SR4.61 billion). The percentage share of Arab residents in Saudi Arabia from the market trades was 1.4 percent for selling (SR 2.90 billion) and 1.5 percent for buying (SR 2.96 billion). The percentage share of non-Arab residents in Saudi Arabia from the market trades was 0.1 percent for selling (SR229.40 million) and 0.1 percent for buying (SR214.76 million).

Tadawul has successfully launched and implemented the new market sectors and indices from April 5. After the new market structure, the number of sectors became 15 (instead of 8) and market indices 16 (instead of 9) and is calculated based on the free-floated shares only.

In April, Alinma Bank launched its initial public offering (IPO) of 1,050 million shares at SR10 per share. Tadawul announced on Saturday that the IPO shares of Alinma have been deposited into applicable investor’s portfolios on May 3. Last month Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) was included in TASI. In the corporate news, National Metal Manufacturing & Casting Co. (Maadaniyah) and Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Company (SAFCO) increased their paid up capital by issuing one bonus share for every four shares held. Maadaniyah raised its total number of issued shares to 20,445,156 and SAFCO to 250 million from April 7.

Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co. increased its paid up capital by issuing one bonus share for every four shares held, raising its total number of issued shares to 30 million from April 12. Bank AlJazira increased its paid up capital by issuing one bonus share for every three shares held, raising its total number of issued shares to 300 million from April 16.



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