Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) ended Tuesday’s session in the green zone, adding 42 points (+0.3%) to close at 13,207 levels. The market opened in a positive gap from yesterday’s session and traded in the green zone for the whole session. However, it lost most of its gains in the last trading hour. The Banking sector rose by +0.7% with Alinma hitting a new record of SAR40.3/sh. Materials sector ended positive and advanced by +0.3% despite all cement companies closing in red. Utilities surged by +3.3%, while Energy was mostly unchanged. Again, top gainers for the second session included, ACWA POWER (+10%) followed by AMAK (+9.9%), and TADAWUL GROUP (+8.6%). Trading volumes and values rose sharply by +17% and +34% respectively to reach to 214mn shares and 12.1bn in liquidity.

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

Following hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard, US markets fell on Tuesday, while Treasury yields rose. Brainard stated that the central bank will continue to tighten policy gradually while rapidly decreasing its balance sheet as early as May. Investors will be hoping for more signals about how quickly the Federal Reserve plans to raise rates and reduce its balance sheet when the minutes from its most recent meeting are released overnight tonight. With 70% of companies trading lower, the S&P500 sank -1.3%, driven down by technology -2.2% and consumer discretionary -2.4%. The Dow Jones fell -0.8% percent, the Nasdaq Composite -2.3% percent, and the Russell 2000 -2.4%.

European stocks were mixed as investors assessed the possibility of more penalties against Russia, including a proposed ban on coal imports, while French stocks underperformed after a survey revealed a tighter presidential race than expected. While polls indicate a Macron victory, the distance between the two candidates is narrowing. Far-right contender Marine Le Pen is expected to make the April 24th runoff versus Emmanuel Macron. The Euro Stoxx 600 increased by +0.2% along with FTSE100 which was up by +0.7%. While the DAX and CAC fell by -0.6% and -1.3%, respectively. In economic news, the final reading of the Eurozone services PMI for March increased to 55.6 from 55.5 previously, topping expectations of a dip to 54.8.

 

In Asia, nearly all major markets closed in the positive zone.  In China and Hong Kong, the markets were closed for the holidays and will reopen tomorrow. In Japan, Nikkei 225 was mostly flat in today’s trading session, however, it managed to rise slightly to close +0.2% higher. In South Korea, KOSPI started the session higher but then traded mostly in negative zone and closed the session flat. India’s SENSEX managed to reduce early session losses and closed -0.7%.