Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed positively on ‎Wednesday for the second day in a row, rising +126 points ‎‎(+1.2%) to close at 10,485 levels. TASI index opened the ‎session negatively, declining from the previous close, and ‎continued its decline as it recorded its intraday low level of ‎‎38points in the first hour of trading. However, TASI started ‎building its positive momentum after that and continued ‎rising throughout the trading session, reaching its intraday ‎high at the end of the session. In general, 15 out of 20 sectors ‎closed in the green zone, while 107 stocks rose and 89 fell. ‎Banks (+1.5%), Materials (+2%), and Health care equipment ‎and services (+2.5%) sectors contributed the most to the ‎index's rise of +93 points. Stock-wise, Riyad Bank (+4.3%), Al ‎Rajhi Bank (+0.9%), and SABIC (+2.9%) contributed most to ‎the rise of the index. Trading activity witnessed a remarkable ‎improvement in volume and value by 29% for both to reach ‎‎35mn shares and SAR4.5bn. TASI is likely to see more ‎intraday volatility with the latest COVID-19 update and soft ‎commodity prices impacting the investors’ sentiment. ‎

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets traded tentatively with the latest ‎updates on COVID-19 bringing back fears of fresh travel ‎restrictions, diluting the impact of economic reopening in ‎China. The authorities in Milan have announced plans to carry ‎out mandatory COVID-19 tests for all inbound passengers ‎from China. The decision came after half of the passengers ‎from China were found to have COVID-19 infection. The ‎impact was visible across the three regions on Wednesday. In ‎the U.S, investors overlooked the latest economic data which ‎substantiates market views of less hawkish Fed in 1H23 and ‎focused on COVID-19 updates. Oil prices fell by 0.2-1.4%. The ‎benchmark indices gave up intraday gains to close with modest ‎losses of 1.1-1.4%. Yields on the U.S treasuries ticked up by 1-‎‎3bps.‎

In Europe, the benchmark Stoxx Euro 600 Index painted a ‎similar story and pared intraday gains to slide by -0.1% at ‎session close, dragged by energy and tech sectors. FTSE-100 ‎was up 0.3% on catch-up trade following resumption of trading ‎after holidays.‎

 

The Asian equity indices received a major brunt and were ‎down by 0.1-2.2%. Tech heavy indices were particularly hit ‎hard (KOSPI: -2.2%, TAIEX: -1.1%). HangSeng (+1.6%) was a ‎major outlier in the region as the market reopened after ‎holidays. Shanghai Composite (-0.3%) recorded modest loss as ‎investors balanced the impact of economic reopening with the ‎risk of travel restrictions on outbound passengers from ‎China.  ‎