Tadawul Review: 

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) rose on Thursday, up by +36 points (+0.3%) to close at 12,502 levels. TASI opened the session on a positive note of +16 points and  continued to rise gradually throughout the session until the end. In general, 10 out of 20 sectors closed in the green zone, and 130  shares rose while 90 fell. Utilities (+2.7%), Telecom (+1.8%), and Materials (+0.4%) sectors contributed the most to the index rise. Stockwise, ACWA Power (+3.6%), Maaden (+3.0%), and Saudi Telecom (+2.6%) were the major contributors. The trading activity witnessed a decline in volume and value of -15% and -14%, respectively, to reach 311mn shares and SA8.2bn in value traded.

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The U.S. market experienced a decline as both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite saw decreases of -0.9% and -2.0% respectively. Investor caution heightened due to a combination of mixed quarterly company earnings and recent remarks from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which tempered expectations for interest rate cuts. These factors contributed to increased risk aversion among investors.

In Europe, the Euro Stoxx 600 index fell by -0.1% amidst the possibility of an interest rate cut by the Bank of England in May. Investors were cautiously optimistic, as market sentiment supporting such a move weakened. In contrast, the FTSE 100 index experienced a rise of 0.2%.

In Asia, the SHCOMP experienced a decline of -0.3%, and the Hang Seng index saw a decline too of -1.0% as finance chiefs from the United States, Japan, and Korea issued an uncommon warning about currency weakness, which impacted market sentiment. In Japan, both the TOPIX and NIKKEI 225 indices suffered losses, declining by -1.9% and -2.7% respectively.