Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed down for the fifth day in a row by -116 points (-1.1%) and closed at its lowest level since December 19, 2022 (48 trading days) at 10,153. TASI started Thursday’s session on a negative note (-35 points) and continued its decline for the rest of the session. In general, 14 out of 20 sectors closed in the red zone, while 96 stocks rose and 112 fell. Banks (-1.6%), Energy (-1.8%), and Materials (-0.9%) sectors were the major drags on the index and contributed a total of -86 points. Stocks-wise, Al Rajhi Bank (-2.6%), Aramco (-1.9%), and SABIC (-1.9%) pulled the index down the most. The trading activity witnessed an increase in volume and value by 16% and 20%, respectively, to reach 137mn shares and SAR4bn. The index is trading close to important psycholfical level of 10k mark. The index may move further down due to negative momentum. However, the possibility of index taking support around the 10k levels remains high. 

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets continued facing turbulence amid above-expected inflation reading in the U.S, deeper slow-down in economic growth in the major European country, and disappointing earnings in Asia. The Personal Consumption Expenditure, a Fed’s preferred gauge for inflation, came in hotter than expected and reinforced the Fed’s view of stickiness in inflation and the need to do more to rein in price pressure. The impact on treasury yields of the latest inflation print was quite evident as yields across tenures rose by 5-12bps. The key equity benchmarks, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, were down by 1.1% and 1.3% at session close. Nine out of eleven sectors in the S&P 500 Index closed negative.

In Europe, the markets digested both the negative surprise in the U.S inflation data and the latest economic data from Germany, showing deeper-than-expected drop in GDP at the year end. The Stoxx Euro 600 Index fell by 1% at session close as mining, leisure and transportation dragged the index.

In Asia, the weak earnings from the tech names and currency pressure pushed the major indices down by 0.2-1.7%. Hang Seng (-1.7%) emerged as the worst performing index. Indices in Japan defied the regional trends and rose by 0.7-1.3% on the comments from the nominee for Governor of BoJ favored current policy easing.