Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) closed down by 19 points on Wednesday's session to settle at 12,292 levels. The index opened below its previous day's close and continued its downward trajectory in the first few hours of the session losing 88 points amid a decline in Brent oil prices. The index managed to recover and pared its losses as news of OPEC+ deciding to increase production much slower-than-anticipated pace in September hit the market. In general, 13 sectors out of 21 closed higher, while the advance to decline ratio was greater than 1.4:1. Despite the majority of sectors closing in green, the index was down as index heavyweights namely Banks (-0.5%) and Materials (-0.1%) sectors dominating the impact. The Utilities sector (+0.9%) and the Health care (+1.0%) sectors provided some support. The trading activity was well above its 3-month average despite shrinking DoD with volume and value traded dropping by 5.0% and 0.7% to 200mn shares and SAR7.7bn.

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity indices surged on Wednesday to mark a relief rally as the recent visit of the US House Speaker to Taiwan concluded without any escalation in geopolitical tension between the two global powers. Meanwhile, one more Fed President has joined the tally to negate the market view that the Fed could end the rate hike cycle by end of this year and would make a rate reversal next year. The U.S treasuries showed a further bearish trend with rates for both short and long-end of the curve going up by 15-10bps. The S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite rose 1.6% and 2.6% respectively, defying the move in the fixed income market as investors focused on the latest results. This was S&P 500’s highest level in nearly two months led by communication services, consumer discretionary, and IT sectors.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index changed its course (+0.5%) following losses for the past two sessions of the result season. IT, energy, and financial sectors were in the lead. Broader newsflow on key issues of energy and water scarcity in the region remained dominant. Gas prices in the region however eased off from the high seen this week.

In Asia, barring China, most of the major country indices managed to close in positive despite intraday volatility seen in many markets. Investors digested the latest measures from China to cut down trade with Taiwan. Indices in Japan (Topix: +0.3%), Korea (KOSPI: +0.9%, latest China pivot for food and chip imports), and Hong Kong (HangSeng: +0.4% followed a volatile session), closed positive while indices in China (Shanghai Composite: -0.7%) closed down.