Tadawul Review:
Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) ended the first day of August negatively on Tuesday by -56 points (-0.5%) to close at 11,636 levels. TASI opened the session on a negative note of -17 points from the previous day's close then the index increased reaching its intraday peak in the first trading hour.However, Despite the initial jump, TASI started to decline gradually until the end of the session. In general, 11 out of 20 sectors closed in the red zone, while 119 of 223 shares fell and 87 rose. Banks (-0.4%), Materials (-0.7%), and Telecom (-1.3%) sectors contributed the most to the index's -35-point fall. Stockwise, Aramco (-0.5%), Saudi Telecom (-1.2%), and Almarai (-1.9%) were the major contributors. The trading activity witnessed a decline in volume and value by -1% and -8%, respectively, to reach 213mn shares and SAR5.4bn in value traded.
The global equity markets moved sideways on Tuesday as investors evaluated positioning and valuation following the close of very productive months across the region. In the U.S, the key indices took a move by a marginal -0.4%|+0.2%. The S&P 500 Index closed the session with 0.3% with 9 out of eleven listed sectors registering drop. The earnings season in the U.S has been uneventful so far. All eyes are on the upcoming results of two big tech firms (Apple, Amazon) due on Thursday.
In Europe, the equity markets broadly came under pressure due to a weak set of corporate results. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 fell by 0.9% on Tuesday. The country level indices were also down in the range of 0.4-1.3%.
In Asia, the release of economic data in China (Caixin manufacturing purchase manager index) came in below consensus expectations and highlighted the tough task facing the authorities to support economic growth. CSI 300 and Hang Seng fell by respectively 0.4% and 0.3%. Kospi was a major performer with 1.3% gains along with Taiex (+0.4%) and Topix (+0.6%).