TASI dips; no buy signals in sight

A retreat in oil prices undermined the broad sentiment in Saudi Arabia’s stock market on Wednesday. The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) closed 0.4 percent lower at 7,081 amid volumes of SAR 2.5 billion.  

Brent crude, the key benchmark for Middle East’s crude exporters, was last trading at $51.87 per barrel, up slightly from a session low of $51.18.

Meanwhile, Riyad Capital in a technical note warned that technical indicators have leveled off in their oversold regions, but have yet to generate buy signals. Despite’ Tuesday’s rise “the index’s formation was not strong enough to indicate a trend reversal…”

Mid-cap stocks were in focus. National Medical Care fell to its lowest level since listing, down 5 percent to SAR 39.20.

Maaden fell 1 percent to SAR 47.85. The miner’s net income for Q2 more than doubled YoY to SAR 356.5 million, thanks to higher sales along with Maaden’s ongoing cost cut initiatives.

According to Al Rajhi Capital the stock is slightly expensive currently and has set a target price of SAR 37.80. 

Many petrochemical stocks declined. SABIC was 1.2 percent lower at SAR 97.30. Sahara and Sipchem both fell around 1 percent each. Nama Chemicals, which narrowed its loss to SAR 2.6 million from SAR 31.4 million last year, pared early gains and closed slightly lower at SAR 15.10.

In contrast, Saudi Re which swung to profit in Q2 versus loss of SAR 8.9 million, was top gainer. It closed 5 percent higher at SAR 7.    

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