Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index rose on Sunday even as fresh drone activity clouded peace hopes in the region, a reminder that ordinary people live with the fallout while financial markets keep tallying winners and losers. The benchmark index gained 83.75 points, or 0.76 percent, to close at 11,115.07, with total trading turnover at SR4.87 billion ($1.29 billion). Across the session, 135 stocks advanced and 119 retreated.
Who Gets Counted, Who Gets Hit
The Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu also edged up, gaining 9.09 points, or 0.04 percent, to close at 22,644.44, with 35 stocks advancing and 31 retreating. The MSCI Tadawul Index gained 13.59 points, or 0.92 percent, to close at 1,489.63. In the language of the exchange, this is movement; in the language of everyday life, it is the machinery of capital sorting who benefits from instability and who absorbs it.
The best-performing stock of the day was Elm Co., whose share price surged 5.40 percent to SR693.00. Other top performers included Middle East Paper Co., whose share price rose 5.33 percent to SR18.78, and CATRION Catering Holding Co., whose share price surged 5.03 percent to SR73.05. On the other side of the ledger, National Medical Care Co. recorded the steepest decline, falling 9.95 percent to SR104.10. Saudi Arabian Amiantit Co. also saw its stock price fall 6.98 percent to SR14.26, and Advanced Building Industries Co. declined 6.64 percent to SR36.00.
What the Companies Reported
On the announcement front, Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co. released its interim financial results for the three-month period ending March 31. According to a Tadawul statement, the firm recorded a net profit of SR34.15 million during the first three months of the year, up 65 percent from the same period last year. The rise in net profit was primarily linked to a significant improvement in gross profit resulting from a 10 percent increase in sales and an improved profit margin. Net profit was also supported by lower general and administrative expenses resulting from cost optimization and operational streamlining, alongside a decline in selling and distribution costs during the period. Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co. ended the session at SR60.30, down 1.15 percent.
Yanbu Cement Co. also announced its interim financial results for the first three months of 2026. A bourse filing revealed that the firm recorded a net profit of SR37.54 million during the first three months of the year, reflecting a 25 percent increase compared to the corresponding period a year earlier. This jump in net profit was mainly due to improved average selling prices, lower cost of revenues, and reduced selling and distribution expenses resulting from lower export volumes, as well as lower financing costs. Yanbu Cement Co. ended the session at SR15.00, up 4.94 percent.
The Regional Boardroom
In the wider Gulf, Qatar’s QSI fell about 0.5 percent to 10,664, Egypt’s EGX30 rose about 1.9 percent to 54,629, Bahrain’s BAX declined about 0.4 percent to 1,934, Oman’s MSX30 eased about 0.2 percent to 8,331, and Kuwait’s BKP declined about 0.5 percent to 9,381. The numbers move, the institutions report, and the people living under the region’s tensions remain the ones who pay the price when peace hopes are clouded by drone activity and the market keeps on trading.