Foreign investors cut holdings in Tadawul to 5% last week

Foreign investors – including strategic partners – cut their ownership in the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) by 0.05 percent to 5.07 percent in the week ending March 14, 2019, new market data show.

Non-founding foreign investors – namely swap holders, residents, Qualified foreign investors (QFIs) – accounted for 2.09 percent of total ownership in Tadawul, compared to 2.04 percent in the previous week on concluding SAR 1.59 billion worth of purchase transactions; marking the highest level ever.

Non-founding foreign investors’ ownership exceeded 2 percent in the period from April to October 2018, ahead of declining in October and November.

Founding foreign investors accounted for 2.98 percent of total foreign ownership in the same period.

On the other hand, GCC investors’ ownership remained unchanged at 2.06 percent in the week ending Feb. 14, compared to the previous week.

GCC investors' ownership saw a gradual decrease in 2017 to 2.40 percent in April, ahead of dropping to 2.06 percent in average last year.

Last Thursday, a total of 38.5 million shares were traded at a total value of SAR 1.4 billion in 5,400 transactions, as the first phase of the FTSE Russell and S&P DJI Emerging Markets will begin on Monday, Mar. 18, 2019.