Stock Exchange Record Best 1st Week Performance, in New Year

Saudi stock exchange main index TASI ended the 1st week of 2022, with an increase of 1.32%, gaining 148.8 points, to reach the level of 11,430.51 points, while it had ended the last week of the Year 2021, at 11,280.35 points.

Rise achieved last week was the highest rise for the market, at the level of the first week of the year, in 9 years, specifically since 2014, when the market rose at that time by 1.62%.

However, in 2014 the end of the first week of the year, was on January 2, and although the new year trading, has taken place, on January 2, too, it has covered the whole five regular sessions, in the new year.

The market’s gains came in the first week of this year with the support of the banking sector, which rose by 2.44%, to come in third place among the 16 sectors that rose, as only 5 sectors declined during the week.

In terms of the total shares that were traded, amounting to 208 shares, increased by 60.58%, while 77 shares declined, or 37.02% of the total, and only 5 shares remained stable, including the Saudi Telecom Company, best widely known and referred to as stc.

The highest share gainer was MEPCO, which rose by the end of the week by 10.09% to SR48, followed by Arab National by 9.27% ​​to SR24.98, Bank Al-Jazira by 8.70% to SR20.98.

On the other hand, Sadr share was the most declining, losing nearly a fifth of its market value in the first week of the year, at a rate of 19.92% to SR82, followed by Acig with a decrease of 11.19% to SR20.96, and BATEC, whose share fell 9.7% to SR22.16.

The market rises during the first week of the year come in light of a number of indicators that support the market during the Year 2022 as a whole, including the achievement of liquidity in the Saudi economy, at record levels.

The volume of liquidity in the local economy increased by about SR134.95 billion by the end of November 2021, on an annual basis or by 6.31% to reach SR2.274 trillion, which is the highest ever posted level.

In addition, the decision OPEC + to increase production by 400,000 barrels per day next February, which was followed by a rise in oil prices to hit $80 a barrel, has pushed them back to their level in November 26, when the news of the emergence of the new variant began, leading to a drop in the prices on the same day by more than 10%.

Data also showed a sharp jump in fuel stocks, in the United States, due to decline in demand.

As well, the initial indications that the listed companies achieved an increase in their profits, during the year 2021, to confirm their recovery from the impact of the repercussions of the pandemic.

Among the indicators are 23 companies which have announced cash dividends for the whole Year 2021 (until December 28) at a value of SR29.14 billion.

That is more than what those companies distributed during the past year (SR19.19 billion), a rise of 51.9%, indicating their expectations of achieving good profits, during the Year 2021.

As many as 6 companies that announced dividends for the Year 2021 doubled their distribution of dividends, led by Sahara International Petrochemical Company “Sipchem”, which raised its cash dividends by 347% to SR1.64 billion, compared to SR366.7 million for the Year 2020.

Saudi Fransi ranked second among the companies that raised their dividends for the whole Year 2021, as it raised its dividends by 275% to S1.79 billion, compared to SR479.98 million for the year 2020, and SABIC Agricultural Nutrients Company raised its distributions by 127% to SR2.02 billion, compared to SR892.7 million for the Year 2020, and Riyadh Bank raised the value of its cash dividends by 108% to SR3.12 billion, compared to SR1.5 billion for the Year 2020.

While the Arab National Bank and Dallah Health increased by 100%, to SR1.2 billion and SR135 million for the Year 2021, compared to SR600 million and SR67.5 million for the Year 2020, respectively.