The Saudi Arabian stock exchange finished as the worst performer in the GCC by ending 0.85% lower at 6,264.01 points. Astra Industrial Group posted the highest profit on Monday and finished 1.83% higher at SR39.10. On its second day of trading at the Tadawul bourse, shares of Knowledge Economic City (KEC) were the most liquid and finished 2.91% lower at SR9.95. Nevertheless, Josef Schuster, founder and CEO of IPOX Schuster in Chicago judges the IPO as a progress in the GCC capital markets' development. "The positive reception to the Knowledge Economic City IPO underlines the positive momentum in Saudi Arabian IPOs with 75% of this year's deals trading substantially above the first close", Schuster says. "The small initial gain should encourage more widespread buying of the stock in regular trading going forward". KEC stocks were issued at SR10 in May in a SR1bn ($272m) going public and closed at SR10.30 on its first trading day on Monday. This was the fifth IPO in KSA in 2010, according to Schuster.