Tadawul falls 1.9% as investors dump stocks

Saudi stocks marked a fall in broad sell-off in what is termed as the lowest volume for a year, on Sunday. 
Petrochemicals were also hit as crude prices fell 5 percent over the last 10 days.
Crude oil prices fell by up to 2 percent on Friday to multi-week lows.
Brent crude futures slid 86 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $45.73 a barrel on Friday. 
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 99 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $42.92 a barrel. Earlier, WTI hit a five-week low of $42.74.
According to Reuters Brent was on track for a weekly loss of nearly 5 percent, while WTI was poised to be down 6 percent on the week.
The Tadawul All-Share Index pulled back 1.9 percent to 6,060 points on the first day back following a 10-day Eid Al-Adha break. But trading volume was the lowest since last September.
“The fall is no real surprise,” commented James Reeve, deputy chief economist and assistant general manager at Samba Financial Group.
“We expected it to be a bad year for the Tadawul. Petrochemicals in particular are in for a tough time given weak oil prices and the slowdown of Chinese demand. We expect some improvement next year in line with the recovery of oil prices, and a potentially good year in 2018 as the Tadawul is expected to be included in the MSCI EM index,” Reeve added.
A Reuters report said that equity investors dumped Saudi stocks on Sunday, deterred by a recent downturn in global equity and oil markets while Qatar's index held on to small gains as traders bought shares on price dips.
Oil-related companies were hit with Saudi Kayan Petrochemical declining 2.3 percent in heavy trade, after Brent futures fell by around 5 percent during the 10 days the Riyadh bourse was closed.
Banking shares were also weak with heavyweight National Commercial Bank dropping 4.2 percent.
The value of Saudi traded shares reached SR1.65 billion on Sunday on volume of 92.80 million of shares.
Qatar's share index climbed 0.4 percent to 10,572 points in active trade, with volume the highest in a month as investors bought back some shares which were hit by profit taking before the holiday.
Islamic lender Masraf Al-Rayan was the most traded share and added 0.7 percent while telecommunication operator Ooredoo jumped 3.9 percent.
Shares in companies set to be included in index compiler FTSE's secondary emerging market index on Sept. 20 outperformed last month, Reuters reported.
Dubai's index steadied and added 0.03 percent to 3,483 points after it fell 1.1 percent on Thursday, when it reopened after a week-long holiday.
Shuaa Capital surged 9.3 percent. Shares in the investment firm have surged 36.5 percent over the past three weeks since the firm started to offer liquidity services for Nasdaq Dubai's single stock futures trades. Shuaa is the only firm offering market-making facilities to brokers.
GFH Financial Group added 2 percent, extending its 1 percent gain from Thursday after the company said its Dubai-based subsidiary GFH Capital sold its remaining 18 percent stake in English football club Leeds United.
In Abu Dhabi, blue chips dragged the index 0.3 percent lower at 4,486 points. First Gulf Bank lost 0.8 percent and telecommunication giant Etisalat edged down 0.3 percent.
Egypt's index of the 30 most valuable stocks fell 0.8 percent in thin trade as roughly two-thirds of the shares declined.
Real-estate developers were some of the top losers with Talaat Mostafa Group shedding 4.4 percent and Porto Group declining 3.7 percent.
Over the next three-to-six months Credit Suisse expects a better performance from Gulf equities, supported by a more positive outlook on oil prices and stabilizing earnings forecasts
Analysts see further downside risks to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain and they favor shares in the UAE, especially companies in Dubai.

Source: Arab News