Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed Sunday's session up ‎‎+19 points (+0.2%) to close at 10,235 levels. TASI opened the ‎session positively, up 15 points from the previous close, and ‎the session saw fluctuations throughout, trading in a 47-‎points range. In general, 7 sectors out of 20 closed in the ‎green zone, while 79 stocks rose and 121 fell. Banks (+0.5%), ‎Energy (+0.9%), and Insurance (+1.1%) sectors contributed ‎the most to the index's rise. Stock-wise, Al Rajhi Bank (+1%), ‎Aramco (+1%), and Riyad Bank (+1%) contributed most to ‎the rise of the index. The trading activity witnessed a decline ‎in the volume and value of trading by 21% and 26%, ‎respectively, to reach 80mn shares and SAR2bn. The market ‎will likely start focusing on the Dec-end result seasons with a ‎slew of announcements on cash dividends by companies ‎made in the last few sessions. However, overall TASI is likely ‎to remain directionless with updates on international ‎markets (COVID-19 in China, overhang from monetary policy ‎surprises, blizzards in North America) dominating the ‎investors’ sentiments for now.‎

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets will likely trade cautiously in the ‎next week with relatively low volumes due to year-end ‎holidays. The three key themes in the global markets-the ‎overhang from monetary policy backdrop surprises, COVID-19 ‎updates and winter seasons in the U.S. and Europe. In the ‎U.S, the markets will be closed on Monday. Last week’s ‎economic data was largely mixed though the inflation gauge ‎came in better than expected. The important data next week ‎include housing (prices and sales0 and PMI (Dec). Besides, ‎market investors will also closely track the length and severity ‎of ongoing blizzards in North America to gauge the extent of ‎disruption in economic activity.‎

In Europe, all major equity markets will be closed in the region ‎for trading on Monday. From the region’s point of view, the ‎focus area will be CPI data (Germany, Spain, France) and ‎housing.  The equity indices have managed to close the last ‎with modest gain and may look to consolidate a healthy ‎recovery from the bottom seen in 3Q though infection updates ‎from China may possibly lead the market to trim gains further.‎

 

In Asia, all eyes will be on the latest updates on the spread of ‎COVID-19 infection in China and the discovery of a new ‎variant. The monetary policy backdrop in Japan will also be a ‎major focus area given the possibility of further surprise by the ‎BoJ. The overhang from the two key issues may drag the ‎performance of the equity further.‎‎