Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) closed the first session of ‎February on Wednesday slightly lower and fell by -9 points (-‎‎0.1%) to close at 10,784 levels. TASI had started the session ‎on a muted note and struggled to maintain its levels. The ‎index fell by 53 points in the normal trading. In the closing ‎auction, TASI was able to add 26 points to erase most of its ‎losses. In general, 8 out of 20 sectors closed in the red zone, ‎while 111 stocks rose and 93 fell. Insurance (+2.3%), Health ‎Care (+1.3%), and Telecom (+0.4%) sectors contributed to ‎the stability of the index, while Banks (-0.2%), Materials (-‎‎0.3%), and Utilities (-1.1%) were a drag on the index. Among ‎stocks, Al Rajhi Bank (-1.1%), ACWA Power (-2.1%), and SIIG ‎‎(-4.6%) pulled the index down the most. The trading activity ‎witnessed a decline in the volume and value of trading by ‎‎10% and 20%, respectively, to reach 132mn shares and ‎SAR3.7bn. The index is likely to remain range bound with ‎possible upside biase. ‎‎

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity indices broadly surged on Wednesday amid ‎intraday volatility with a clear focus on Fed’s decision on rate ‎hike. The step-down in the quantum of rate hike from 50bps ‎in the last policy decision to current 25bps came in line with ‎consensus expectation, however, the guidance of further rate ‎hike carried a tinge of negative surprise. Markets appeared to ‎have responded to Fed’s Chairman comment on latest report ‎on labor cost and goods inflation. The treasury yields dropped ‎by further 10-14bps along with the dollar index. The S&P 500 ‎and Nasdaq Composite were choppy but regained momentum ‎to close with sizable gains of 1% and 2% on comments from ‎the Fed Chairman.  ‎

In Europe, the Stoxx Euro 600 Index went through a volatile ‎trading session and closed largely changed (-0.03%) ‎Construction, leisure and travel names outperformed the ‎broader markets. Results season so far failed to produce any ‎major surprise for the markets which explains broader ‎sideway moves in the index in the past few sessions. Country ‎level indices also moved sideways through the session.‎

 

In Asia, major markets were up ahead on dip buying in tech ‎names. Benchmarks in China (Shanghai Composite: +0.9%), ‎Hong Kong (HangSeg:+1.1%), Korea (KOSPI:+1%), were ‎Taiwan (TAIEX:+1%) recovered losses from previous session ‎while TOPIX in Japan were in red. ‎‎