RIYADH: The Saudi exchange has concluded the final trading session of the year with its TASI index hitting the highest annual leap in 14 years, amounting to 30 percent, amid an unending series of pandemic-driven volatility. The latest gains recorded stood at 0.73 percent for the main index TASI which closed at 11,282 points, and 0.09 percent for the parallel market Nomu, edging up to 25,976 points. Most of the Kingdom’s major players ended higher including Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Aramco, and SABIC, rising to SR142 ($37.82), SR35.8, and SR116, respectively. ACWA Power saw the highest gains of 5.4 percent to close at SR84 — highest since listing, followed by Saudi Research and Media Group, SRMG, and Allied Cooperative Insurance Group, ACIG, which rose almost 5 percent to SR196 and SR23.6, respectively. The hike in ACIG’s shares followed the approval to increase capital to SR291 million via a rights issue, where the fluctuation limits will be based on a share price of SR22.6 as announced today by the Saudi Exchange. Sadr Logistics was the top decliner as it fell almost 10 percent to SR102, erasing its gains momentum from earlier this month where it hit an all-time closing high of SR138. The fast rebound of Saudi stocks illustrated resilience against the recently re-imposed COVID-19 restrictions by the government which sent the market into free-fall on Wednesday, Dec. 30. Throughout the year, the Kingdom’s major indexes saw unprecedented gains that were driven by a wave of initial public offerings, higher dividends, improving oil markets, promising financial results for companies, and overall recovery from 2020’s pandemic crisis. Later in November when the omicron variant hit, a surge in coronavirus cases in the country followed which reignited investors’ fears as they witnessed a mixed trend in the equity markets.