Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) ended the last trading ‎session of 2022 down slightly by -7 points (-0.1%) to end the ‎year at 10,478 levels. TASI has recorded its first annual ‎decline in six years, dropping by -803 points (-7.1%) YoY. The ‎monthly losses for December 2022 were -418 points (MoM: -‎‎3.8%). TASI opened the session negatively, declining in the ‎first hour of trading, reaching its intraday low of -38 points, ‎from which TASI began to build its positive momentum to ‎achieve its intraday high of +57 during the middle of the ‎trading hours, before it began to decline back to close the ‎session in the red. In general, 13 out of 20 sectors closed in ‎the green zone, while 107 stocks rose and 88 fell. Telecom ‎‎(+0.3%), Health care equipment and services (+0.6%), and ‎Retailing (+0.5%) sectors contributed to the stability of the ‎index, while Banks (-0.5%), Energy (-0.3%), and Insurance (-‎‎1%) were a drag on the index. Among stocks, Al Rajhi Bank (-‎‎1.1%), Riyad Bank (-3.1%), and Arab National Bank (-3.6%) ‎pulled the index down the most. The trading activity ‎witnessed a decline in the volume and value of trading by ‎‎15% and 19%, respectively, to reach 115mn shares and ‎SAR3.6bn. The index may look to build a positive momentum ‎as it is likely to take a cue from a strong close to oil prices in ‎the international market and the upcoming result season for ‎Dec-end. ‎

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets moved cautiously in the last trading ‎session of 2022 and broadly closed lower amid low volumes. ‎The COVID-19 infection has once again become an overriding ‎concern for the global investors though the commitment of ‎Chinese authorities has cushioned the big downside. In the U.S. ‎The oil prices moved higher by 2.4-3%. In the U.S, the benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq ‎Composite edged lower by 0.25% and 0.1%. Energy stocks ‎were the major outperformer for the session while real estate ‎and utilities were the major underperformers for the S&P 500 ‎Index. The latest unemployment data provided a mixed ‎reading for the future interest rate changes. The S&P 500 and ‎Nasdaq Composite have lost 19% and 33% respectively in ‎‎2022, recording the worst performance since 2008.‎

In Europe, the Stoxx Euro 600 Index moved lower by 1.3%, ‎taking the loss for the year 2022 to 13%, the highest annual ‎loss since 2008. Among the country level indices, FTSE100 was ‎a major outlier and managed to deliver a positive return of ‎‎0.9%.‎

 

In Asia, markets moved in divergent directions. HangSeng and ‎Shanghai Composite, the two markets which have been in the ‎limelight due to China’s COVID19 policies, closed the year on ‎a higher note with 0.2% and 0.5% respectively. Among other ‎major indices, TAIEX (+0.4%), TOPIX (-0.2%), and SENSEX ‎‎(-0.5%) moved in a close range. ‎