TASI falls on weaker oil, profit taking

The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) fell 1.3 percent to 6,288 on Monday, weighed down by weaker oil prices and some profit taking after recent gains in the past few days.

M.R. Raghu, head of research at Kuwaiti investment firm Markaz, told Argaam that he doesn’t see too much upside for Saudi equities this year due to tailwinds from weaker earnings and volatile oil prices.

"In the short term, we are neutral on the Saudi market. However, once oil prices stabilize and as the various policy actions initiated by the Saudi government play out, things could improve by 2017. Therefore, Q4-2016 could well be a good time to enter into the market," he added.

Volumes on Tadwaul came in at SAR 5.4 billion while the advances-declines ratio was 18-144.

Nearly all sectors closed in negative territory. Telecoms finished higher supported by Mobily, which jumped over 5 percent to SAR 27.90. The stock has gained for the past two sessions and added 30 percent over a month.

Among petrochemical stocks, declines ranged from 1 to 4 percent. Sector heavyweight, SABIC, fell 2.4 percent to SAR 75, while Yanbu National Petrochemical Co. dropped 4.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian Amiantit fell 3.2 percent to SAR 8.85 after a court ordered its subsidiary in Iraq, PWT GmbH, to pay SAR 110.8 million as compensation to a subcontractor related to a project in Iraq.

Al-Babtain Power and Telecommunication Co. declined 3.4 percent to SAR 24.25. The company said it has extended—for the third time— its non-binding offer to buy a founding stake in a Riyadh-based manufacturing company to April 24.

Write to Brinda Darasha at brinda.d@argaamplus.com