Tadawul Review:
Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) closed positively for the third day, climbing by 74 points (+0.6%) on Tuesday’s session to close at 11,619 levels. TASI opened the session up by 13 points and continued to rise gradually throughout the session to close at its intraday high. In general, 15 out of 20 sectors closed in the green zone, while 121 stocks rose and 86 fell. Banks (+0.5%), Utilities (+5.2%), and Telecom (+1.2%) sectors contributed the most to the index's (+44 point) rise. Stockwise, ACWA Power (+7.4%), Saudi Awwal Bank (+3.4%), and Saudi Telecom (+1.9%) were the major contributors. The trading volume activity decreased by -7% DoD to reach 247mn shares, while the trading value increased by 2% DoD to reach SAR7.3 bn.
The global equity markets were impacted by the closure of the U.S market on account of Independence Day holiday. However, investors digested the latest from the U.S release a day earlier, the movement in yield in the U.S bonds and latest announcement from China to place export ban on key metals used in Chipmaking. The future contract on key U.S indices in New York reflected a muted move with mere +0.1% change. The data on manufacturing activity had the sharpest drop in over three years, surprising estimates on the downside. Meanwhile, the 10-2-year treasury spread widened to 1.08%, showing the highest inversion in yields in over 42 years.
In Europe, the investors' attention remained on the movement in the mortgage rate as 5-year mortgages in the U.K crossed the 6% mark. The region was affected by the pushback from China on trade battle with the U.S. The healthcare and real estate came to the rescue for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index which managed to close the session with minor gains of 0.1%.
In Asia, the key indices were broadly mixed. Uptick in yields in the U.S weighed on investors sentiment in Japan where key indices retreated by 0.6-0.1% from record high levels. Indices in Hong, China, India and Taiwan rose in the range of 0.4-0.6%. KOSPI in Korea fell by 0.4% due to the export ban by China.