RIYADH: The Tadawul All Share Index continued its downward trend on Tuesday, losing 67 points, or 0.59 percent, to close at 11,218.61, primarily driven by expectations of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve and dropping oil prices. While the parallel market Nomu also dropped 299.51 points to close at 20,863.29, the MSCI Tadawul Index slightly gained 0.13 percent to 1,521.24. The total trading turnover of the benchmark index on Tuesday was SR5.52 billion ($1.47 billion). On Tuesday, Brent crude dropped $0.26, or 0.33 percent, to $79.05 a barrel at 3:45 p.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude slid $0.27, or 0.36 percent, to $75.39. The top performer of the day was Saudia Dairy and Foodstuff Co., whose share prices surged 5.45 percent to SR294. Other top performers of the day were City Cement Co. and City Cement Co., whose share prices increased 3.98 percent and 2.86 percent, respectively. Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipes Co. was the worst performer of the day. The company’s share prices slipped by 2.88 percent to SR45.55. On the announcements front, Riyad Bank, revealed that its net profit for the first quarter of 2023 advanced 30 percent to SR2.01 billion, compared to SR1.55 billion in the same period of 2022. In a statement to Tadawul, the financial institution attributed the rise in net profit to an increase in total operating income, despite facing an uptick in operating expenses. Alinma Bank also announced its financial results for the first quarter on Tuesday. The bank posted a net profit of SR969.9 million, up 17.61 percent compared to the same quarter in 2022. Yamama Cement Co. revealed its year-on-year net profit almost quadrupled in the first quarter of the year to SR112.4 million compared to SR29.6 million in the same period in 2022. However, this did represent a quarter-on-quarter drop of 16.2 percent, as the company’s net earnings in the preceding three months were SR134.15 million. Meanwhile, Jahez International Co. for Information System Technology announced it had signed an extension for the share purchase agreement to acquire The Chefz SPV, as the original agreement period has expired. The company informed the Saudi Stock Exchange that the signing parties have agreed to extend the share purchase agreement until July 31, 2023.