The total value of Saudi stock traded in the market during August jumped by 20.8 percent compared to the previous month, at a time when the total purchases by foreign investors exceeded the purchases made by Saudi and Gulf investors.
The positive growth comes as the Saudi market completed the second and final phase of joining the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
The Saudi stock market index closed Monday up 58 points, recording a “green” positive closure. It ended trading on a 0.7 percent increase, to close at 7971 points, amid transactions worth $853.3 million.
The total value of shares traded for August amounted to $21 billion, while total stock market capitalization reached $506.6 billion at the end of this period, decreasing by 7.53 percent from the previous month.
The total value of shares purchased by Saudi investors during this period amounted to $9.5 billion representing 45.58 percent of total buying activity, and sales of $13 billion, representing 61.91 percent of total selling activity.
Total ownership of Saudi investors stood at 89.77 percent of total market capitalization by the end of August, representing a drop of 0.44 percent from July.
As for the GCC investors, the total value of shares purchased during this period amounted to $173.3 million, representing 0.82 percent of total buying activity, and sales of $493.3 million, representing 2.35 percent of total selling activity.
Total ownership of GCC investors stood at 1.90 percent of total market capitalization by the end of August, representing a decrease of 0.04 percent from the previous month.
During the same period, the value of foreign investors shares amounted to $11.2 billion, representing 53.60 percent of total buying activity, and sales of $7.5 billion, representing 35.73 percent of total selling activity.
Total ownership of foreign investors stood at 8.33 percent of total market capitalization late August, representing an increase of 0.47 percent from July.
These developments come at a time when the asset value of public and private investment funds in the Kingdom jumped during Q2 of this year, reaching levels of $86.1 billion, compared to $82.6 billion in Q1.