The local stock market’s general index gained 57 points yesterday, reaching 10,716, and returned to settle above the 10,700-point level it had fallen below on January 1, 2008—more than 79 months ago.

Eleven of the market’s 15 sectors supported the market; agriculture and banking were among the best performers in terms of percentage gains, while the banking and petrochemical sectors drove the market higher. On the downside, the insurance and energy sectors were among the hardest hit.

The top five sectors by trading volume and value exceeded their August averages, with buyers injecting 10.77 billion riyals yesterday, compared to August’s average of 9.13 billion, and the volume of shares traded jumped to 284 million shares, executed through 169,000 transactions, while the ratio of rising stocks and the buying liquidity ratio remained above their respective benchmarks, all of which indicates that the market yesterday was in a state of intense buying.

The local stock market ended Wednesday’s trading session with solid gains after its general index rose 56.68 points, or 0.53 percent, bringing it to 10,716.24.

Eleven of the market’s 15 sectors led the market, with banks and petrochemicals having the greatest impact, while the agriculture sector was among the best performers, rising 1.30 percent, driven by the performance of Al-Jouf Agricultural and Savola, followed by the banking sector, which rose 1.04 percent.

Two of the market’s top five indicators remained above their benchmarks, while three others—particularly liquidity and trading volume—showed a noticeable improvement. All of this indicates that buying activity dominated the market’s performance yesterday, with the volume of shares traded rising to 284.59 million from 259.04 million in the previous session, their value jumped to 10.77 billion riyals from 9.68 billion, the number of trades rose to 168,940 from 153,530, and the average buying liquidity ratio rose to 55 percent from 51 percent the day before yesterday, and the ratio of rising stocks to falling stocks stabilized above 100 percent, reaching 115.38 percent, down from 131.67 percent. All of the above suggests that the market yesterday was in a state of intense buying.

Yesterday’s trading involved shares of 162 of the 167 companies listed on the market; of these, 75 rose, 65 fell, and the shares of 22 companies remained unchanged.