Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) ended Monday's session with ‎little change, up +4 points to close at 10,464 levels. TASI had ‎started the session negatively, down two points from the ‎previous close, but it reversed its course to start rising after ‎that and building its positive momentum until it reached its ‎intraday high during the last hours of trading, achieving +75 ‎points, but then it retreated to reduce most of its profits and ‎close with a slight increase. In general, 17 sectors out of 20 ‎closed in the green zone, while 158 stocks rose and 53 fell. ‎Health care (+2.9%), Insurance (+2.3%), and Telecom ‎‎(+0.9%) sectors led the index gains, while Banks (-0.5%), ‎Materials (-0.7%), and Energy (-0.1%) were the major drags ‎on the index. Among stocks, Sulaiman Al Habib (+3.8%), ‎Mouwasat (+3.9%), and Almarai (+1.5%) contributed most to ‎the rise of the index. The trading activity witnessed a ‎marginal increase in volume and value by 89% and 71%, ‎respectively, to reach 231mn shares and SAR7bn. A strong ‎rebound in oil prices, coupled with upcoming results for mar-‎end quarter, may allow TASI to sustain its recovery ‎momentum.‎

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets moved in divergent directions, some ‎sign of relief over ongoing stress in the financial sector in both ‎the U.S and Europe. The announcement of acquisition of the ‎Silicon Valley Bank by an existing player and no new negative ‎update on a major bank in Europe coupled with positive ‎statements from the regulators helped calm the investors’ ‎nerves. In the U.S, this meant a spike in the treasury yields as ‎investors decided to take the bets on a likely recession ‎scenario. Commodity prices made a strong come back with ‎the oil jumping by 4%. The S&P 500 moved higher by 0.2% ‎driven by energy and financials. The tech-heavy Nasdaq ‎Composite index, however, fell by 0.5%.‎

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 1% with banks in ‎the lead. The strong statements from the Germany authorities ‎‎, pledging support for Duetshe Bank, helped stabilize shares of ‎the financial sectors. Meanwhile, energy (prices) and ‎healthcare sectors (results) were supported by sector specific ‎updates.‎

 

In Asia, stocks were broadly closed lower by 0.2-1.7% with the ‎drag from below-expected results in Chinese tech names and ‎general concerns on global financial sectors.   Japan ‎‎(TOPIX: +0.3%) and India (SENSEX: +0.2%) were the two ‎major outliers in the region. ‎