Tadawul Review: 

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) rose on Thursday’s session, rising by 51 points (+0.5%) to close at the 11,225 level. TASI opened the session negatively by -12 points but started to rise gradually during the session until the end. Overall, 12 out of 20 sectors closed in the green zone, while 106 shares rose and 105 fell. Banks (+0.8%), Utilities (+3.0%), and Consumer Services (+1.5%) sectors contributed the most to the index rise. Stockwise, Al Rajhi Bank (+1.5%), ACWA Power (+4.4%), and Saudi National Bank (+1.0%) were the major contributors. The trading activity witnessed a slight decline in volume by -0.4% to reach 243mn shares, while the value increased by 6% to be at SAR6.1bn in value traded.

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

In the U.S., the S&P 500 rose on Friday by +0.4% to hit a new high for the year, with 7 out of 11 sectors rising. The Nasdaq Composite, ended the week positively by +0.4% as US job growth picked up pace in November and the decline in the unemployment rate to 3.7% indicates that expectations of an early interest rate cut in the financial markets may be premature. Oil prices rose more than 2% on Friday after U.S. data supported expectations of demand growth.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 surged to its highest level since early 2022 on Friday by +0.7% as investor risk appetite increased following an optimistic report on the U.S. labour market. The FTSE 100 index climbed by 0.5% as traders bet on upcoming interest rate cuts by major central banks.

 

In Asia, the Chinese indices closed on Friday (the Hang Seng fell -0.1% while the Shanghai Composite gained by +0.1%) before the new data on Saturday showed that China's consumer prices fell sharply in November, while factory-gate deflation worsened, raising concerns about the economic recovery due to weak domestic demand. The Japanese benchmark TOPIX and NIKKEI 225 declined by –1.5% and -1.7 %, respectively.