JEDDAH — The foreign investors ownership (Swaps + QFI ownership) had been steadily increasing since

August 2015, however it accelerated from February 2017, mainly due to switch from swaps, Al RAjhi Capital said in its Market Trends report on Wednesday.

From February 2017 to September 2017, the foreign investors ownership increased by 12bps from 0.93% to 1.05%, led by net buying of SR1.72 billion in the period, equivalent to SR0.21 billion average monthly net buying.

However, October witnessed SR0.57 billion net selling by foreign investors, with SR0.42 billion net selling by SWAP holders and SR0.15 billion net selling by QFIs. This is followed by an even deeper selling in November 2017, with SR1.02 billion net selling by SWAP holders and SR0.62 billion net selling by QFIs. This is the largest monthly net selling by QFIs from the time that monthly data has been released i.e. Aug 2015.

Consequently, the combined foreign ownership (Swaps + QFI ownership) dropped from 1.05% in Sept 2017 to 0.92% in Nov 2017, a loss of 13bps (2 bps in October 2017 and 11bps in November 2017).

Moreover, the report said in 1H 2017, the Saudi stock benchmark Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) traded value was down 37% y-o-y, however, it was up 1% in first four months of 2H 2017 i.e. July-October 2017, mainly due to no major selling by HNWIs and

IPIs (part of Saudi individuals), and Ramadan holidays shifting to Q2 this year.

TASI traded value for November 2017 stood at SR75.2 billion, better than last 6 months average traded value of SR59.5 billion per month, and closer to 1H traded value average of SR72 billion per month.

However, it still represents 37% y-o-y decline compared to November 2016, as explained in

the above section. YTD 2017, TASI traded value is down 28% y-o-y. — SG