Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed Tuesday’s session up ‎for the ninth day in a row and added ‎another +142points ‎‎(+1.3%) to close at 10,949 levels, The index advanced to the ‎highest closing level since Nov. 22.  TASI opened the session ‎positively, up by 29 ‎points from the previous close,. In ‎general, 15 out of 20 sectors closed in the green zone, while ‎‎144 ‎stocks rose and 69 fell. Banks (+1.9%), Materials (+1.7 ‎‎%), and Real Estate (+1.9%) sectors contributed the most to ‎the index's rise of +104 points. Stock-wise, Alrajhi Bank ‎‎(+2.0%), Saudi National Bank (+2.7%), and Aramco (+0.8%) ‎contributed most to the rise ‎of the index. The trading activity ‎witnessed an increase in volume and value by 1% and 0.3%, ‎‎respectively, to reach ‎‎232mn shares and SAR6.7bn.‎ TASI is ‎likely to find it challenging to sustain its winnig streak ‎with volaitlity in international markets and recent gains ‎‎(cumulative 5.8% in nine sessions). ‎

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets moved down amid debate around ‎interest rate direction, economic data release in the U.S and ‎the global recession/economic slow-down. The yield on the U.S ‎‎2-year bond, a widely followed point, came down by 13bps ‎while yields on other tenures also followed suit. The latest ‎data on job opening and turnover (JOLT) came in below ‎expected and reaffirmed market view that the Fed’s hiking ‎cycle is impacting the labor market. In the U.S, the S&P 500 ‎and Nasdaq Composite pared intraday gains to close lower by ‎‎0.6% and 0.5% with industries, energy and materials being the ‎biggest drag.‎

In Europe, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index also ‎portrayed a similar move and erased intraday gain of over ‎‎0.7% to close little change. Credit Suisse’s shareholders ‎meeting concluded without any major hiccups. The country ‎level indices also moved in the same direction.‎

 

In Asia, major markets snapped a six-day rally and moved ‎down on the back of profit taking in tech names. Weak ‎economic data in the U.S also weighed on the sentiments, ‎particularly for countries with significant export exposure to ‎the U.S. Indices in Japan and Korea were up marginally ‎‎(+0.3%) while that of Hong Kong and China recorded losses (-‎‎.5-0.7%).  ‎