Margin trading facilities drop 11% in Q1 2018

The total trading facilities granted by brokerage firms to clients on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) fell 11 percent to SAR 8.97 billion in the first quarter of 2018, compared to SAR 10.05 billion in the year-ago period, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said in a report.

The number of clients receiving facilities decreased 5 percent to 1,821, down from 1,910 clients in Q1 of 2017.

On the other hand, the used financing rose 11 percent to register SAR 6.54 billion in Q1 of 2018, compared to SAR 5.9 billion in the same period of the previous year.

Moreover, used financing from the available margin facilities surged 72.9 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2018, up from 58.7 percent.

On a quarterly basis, the number of clients receiving facilities increased 9 percent from Q4 2017. Available margin facilities increased 9 percent, while used financing grew 19 percent in Q1 2018.