Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia's stock market registered trading worth about SR2.5 billion on Sunday, with the benchmark Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) crossing 9,300 points for the first time since July 2015. This was attributed mainly to the gradual entry of major companies under the emerging markets indices from FTSE Russell and MSCI. Saudi market gains have continued, reaching 18.4 percent since the beginning of 2019. The Saudi index ended the session falling slightly by 0.1 percent at 9,266 points, down 10 points. Meanwhile, SABIC's quarterly profit fell to SR3.41 billion in the first three months of this year, compared to SR5.51 billion in the same period of 2018, down 38.1 percent. However, the profit rose 5.2 percent to SR 3.24 billion, comparing with the last quarter of 2018. The petrochemical giant's operating profit also declined in the first quarter to SR6.1 billion compared to SR8.59 billion in the same period last year, down 31.2 percent. SABIC said in a statement posted on the Tadawul website that the decline in profits was due to a fall in the average selling prices of products.
