Tadawul Review:

The Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) fell for the fourth day on Thursday, session, falling by -21 points (-0.2%) to close at the 12,116 level. TASI began the session on a positive note, gaining 30 points initially, but started to decline gradually throughout the session to close at its intraday low. Overall, 16 out of 20 sectors closed in the red zone, while 138 shares fell and 74 rose. Materials (-0.9%), Banks (-0.1%), and Telecom(-0.7%) sectors contributed the most to the index fall. Stockwise, Maaden (-2.3%), Saudi National Bank  (-0.7%), and Etihad Etisalat (-2.3%) were the major contributors. The trading activity witnessed a decline in volume and value by -3% and -10%, respectively, to reach 415mn shares ‎and SAR7.2bn in value traded.

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The U.S. stock market saw positive gains, with the S&P 500 rising by 0.1%. Among the eleven sectors, seven experienced growth. Additionally, the Nasdaq composite showed a slight gain of +0.02%. These increases followed the release of key U.S. inflation data, which was higher-than-expected and caused widespread excitement in the crypto world due to the United States approving the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to track bitcoin.

In Europe, The Stoxx Europe 600 index recorded an increase of +0.8% on Friday, and the FTSE 100 index closed with gains of +0.6%. Investors are now carefully analyzing the U.S. inflation data to gain better insights into the future trajectory of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks.

In Asia, the TOPIX and Nikkei 225 indices concluded the Friday session with gains of 0.5% and 1.5% respectively, following reports of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) considering revising its inflation outlook for fiscal year 2024 to the mid-2% range in the upcoming quarterly forecast. However, the Hang Seng index declined by -0.4%, while the Shanghai Composite index experienced a decline of -0.2%.