Riyadh: Saudi Arabian shares declined for a fifth day, led by petrochemicals companies and banks after US and European markets retreated this week on concern the global economic recovery is slowing.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic) led the retreat, followed by Samba Financial Group and Riyadh Bank. The 143-company Tadawul All Share Index lost 1.8 per cent to 6,079.4, the lowest since July 21.
"The market is correcting due to the double whammy of a global downward trend on mounting concerns about the state of the global economy, as well as the Ramadan effect," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi in Riyadh.
Trading volumes were low yesterday, the fourth day of Ramadan.
