Saudi Exchange logs SAR 21.4M in four block trades

The Saudi Exchange clocked four negotiated deals worth a combined SAR 21.4 million through Monday's session. Block trades of that size and count typically reflect institutional or insider repositioning rather than retail flow, traders said.

Negotiated trades on Tadawul must clear the exchange's block-trade rules, which set a minimum of SAR 5 million in value or 100,000 shares per cross. All four deals crossed those thresholds, the exchange's daily bulletin showed. The identities of the buyer and seller are not disclosed in the standard report, leaving counterparty specifics to the reporting brokers.

The total for the session sits above the average daily negotiated turnover for the recent month, according to traders who track the data. The Saudi market has seen sporadic block activity this quarter. Some sessions this month recorded no negotiated deals at all. The batch of four crosses on Monday punched through that quiet stretch, market participants said.

Such concentrated block flow often precedes corporate events or index rebalancing, traders added. Large holders may use negotiated trades to adjust exposure without moving the market price. The fact that four crosses landed on the same day suggests coordinated repositioning rather than isolated transactions, though the exchange's data does not identify the counterparties.

Tadawul publishes its negotiated transaction log after each session. The next market session will show whether the activity triggers follow-up orders in the underlying stocks or remains a one-off block drain.