Tadawul Review:

 Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) maintained its record-breaking run and rose by another 49 points on Wednesday to set a new multi-year high of 13,256. The latest push for the index came from banks (+0.9%) and telecom (+3.3%) which offset the drag from Materials (-0.7%) and Utility (-3.4%) sectors. Another key highlight of the trading was steep volatility in select names like ACWA (which rose 9% first before plummeting by 10% at close), Tadawul Groupe (-9.6%), ELM (-6%), Solution (-5%), Ma’aden (-2.7%) and Fitness Time (-1.1%). Trading volumes and values further surged by +33% and +30% respectively to reach 285mn shares and 15.9bn in liquidity. Surge in interest rate in the U.S market in the last trading session appears to be key drivers for local banks. The index is likely to see divergent sector trends in coming sessions given sectoral rotation and steep recent price performance in select names.

Market Wrap International:

After the minutes from the FOMC made it obvious that they will act quickly to reduce the balance sheet and boost rates, global markets fell on Wednesday, while the Treasury curve steepened. The minutes from the March meeting revealed that "many" officials preferred to hike rates by 0.50 percent, with only the war in Ukraine keeping them from doing so. The Federal Reserve will cut bond holdings by a maximum of US$95 billion per month on its balance sheet, with US$60 billion in Treasury bonds and US$35 billion in mortgage-backed securities. Technology (-2.5%) and consumer discretionary (-2.6%) weighed on the S&P 500 (-1.0%), while health care (+1.5%) and consumer staples (+1.4%) outperformed in mixed breadth. The Dow Jones fell by -0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell by -2.2%.

In Europe, markets fell aggressively on hawkish Fed comments on Tuesday night regarding raising rates combined with more sanctions to be placed on Russia. The European Stoxx 600 declined by -1.5%, ending its three-session positive streak. In Germany, the market was unable to resist the slew of negative news and as a result, DAX ended the session deep in losses of -1.9%. FTSE 100 turned to red after a couple of sessions of gains, slipping by -0.3%. CAC 40 also fell by -2.2%, extending yesterday’s losses.

In Asia, almost all indices closed in red zone on Wednesday after news of more western sanctions on Russia and fears Fed will raise rate higher than initially expected. In China, the main index SHCOMP stayed flat after a long weekend. In Hong Kong, taking cues from Wall street, Hang Seng fell sharply by -1.9% led by the retail sector. In Japan, tech companies tumbled leading Nikkei 225 to close -1.6% in losses. KOSPI in South Korea also slipped by -0.9%, following the broader trend of losses in other Asian markets.