Mystery surrounds the future of the Saudi stock market as profit-taking activities continue.

The Saudi stock market is witnessing a state of anticipation and anxiety, as investors fear the expansion of profit-taking operations in the absence of strong catalysts to support the market. The "TASI" index started the week’s trading yesterday with a decline, marking the fourth consecutive downturn, reaching 12,372 points, continuing to drift away from the important resistance level of 12,400 points. However, the stability of the banking, energy, and utilities sectors limited the losses.

Additionally, the trading value in the Saudi stock market has significantly dropped to 4.1 billion riyals, falling by more than 30% from its average over the past three months, indicating weak investment appetite due to investors' fears of wider profit-taking operations.

Awaiting Companies' Results

Except for the banks, most of the major companies listed on the Saudi stock exchange have not yet announced their financial results. This situation is one of the factors increasing the anticipation within the market, as investors await the companies' results to make their investment decisions.

Adding to the uncertainty is the announcement of companies with varying results. For instance, the "Sulaiman Al Habib Group" reported results that exceeded expectations, with profits rising by 13% to 2.135 billion riyals last year, as its operations continued to grow across all its main sectors. However, the stock did not see a strong reaction to the announcement, decreasing by 0.9% in the previous session.

Conversely, "Food Development" achieved an annual profit growth of approximately 26%, leading to a 4.27% rise in its stock price following the profit announcement.

Some analysts see investment opportunities in certain sectors, such as healthcare and food, attributing this to various factors including population growth and the approach of the month of Ramadan.

The Impact of New IPOs

The Saudi market is preparing to welcome several initial public offerings (IPOs), which may affect the market's liquidity. Some believe these IPOs could attract some liquidity away from the market, as retail investors tend to prefer subscribing to new offerings.

Among these IPOs is "Dareyah Financial", which set the final price for its offering shares at the upper limit of the price range of 30 riyals, valuing the company at 7.5 billion riyals.

Meanwhile, "Um Al-Qura" company, behind one of the largest projects in Mecca, announced the preliminary price range for offering 9.09% of its capital on the Saudi stock exchange, which ranges between 14 and 15 riyals per share.

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