The Saudi stock market showed resilience last week amid high hopes while the rest of the regional bourses lost ground amid perceived lack of confidence and shortage of liquidity. Analysts said barring any sharp decline in oil prices, Saudi stocks will rally anew in the medium term due to the positive macroeconomic fundamentals and the low return of investments in alternative spheres. They noted that the Saudi market will still do well in the final analysis because valuations are great and fundamentals support growth. Saudi shares surged at the start of the week but fluctuated during the rest of the week for what analysts described as profit taking moves. The rebound was led by the petrochemical sector apparently after oil prices picked up following their decline to $65 per barrel last week. The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) of the Arab world's largest stock exchange gained 2.4 percent, closing at 6,001.38 points. However, for the month of May, the Saudi benchmark Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) dropped 10.88 percent at 6,120.52 points compared with the close of the previous month. On an YTD basis, TASI lost 1.24 points (0.02 percent). Total equity market capitalization at the end of May reached SR1,197.91 billion ($319.44 billion), a drop of 11.45 percent over the previous month. Nonetheless, the total value of shares traded for the month increased by 14.88 percent to SR100.50 billion ($26.80 billion) over the previous month. The total number of shares traded surged 23.84 percent to 4.30 billion shares compared to 3.48 billion shares traded during the previous month. The total number of transactions executed in May reached 2.24 million compared to 1.71 million trades for the month of April 2010, an increase of 31.22 percent. Saudi nationals comprised 90.6 percent for selling at SR91.06 billion and 86.9 percent for buying atSR87.34 billion. The percentage share of Saudi companies from the market trades was 2.3 percent for selling at SR2.27 billion and 6.2 percent for buying at SR6.24 billion. Investment funds represented 2.5 percent for selling at SR2.53 billion and 2 percent for buying at SR 2.04 billion. The percentage share of GCC nationals from the market trades was 1.6 percent for selling at SR1.56 billion and 1.6 percent for buying at SR1.62 billion. The percentage share of Arab residence in Saudi Arabia from the market trades was 1.5 percent for selling at SR1.50 billion and 1.5 percent) for buying at SR1.52 billion. Foreigners who are domiciled in Saudi Arabia got 0.2 percent for selling at SR232.61 million and 0.2 percent for buying at SR211.91 million. The percentage share of foreigners via swap agreement from the market trades was 1.3 percent for selling at SR1.35 billion and 1.5 percent for buying at SR1.53 million.
