Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) ended Tuesday’s session up ‎for the sixth day in a row and  added another +25 points ‎‎(+0.2%), to close at 10,473. TASI opened the session ‎positively and continued its rise during the first half of the ‎trading hours, as it reached its intraday high, surpassing the ‎‎10,500 levels and achieving +86 points. However, TASI ‎declined during the other half of the trading hours, cutting 61 ‎points from its profits. In general, 9 sectors out of 20 closed ‎in the green zone, while 76 shares rose and 132 fell. Telecom ‎‎(+2.5%), Energy (+1.2%), and Health care (+0.4%) sectors ‎contributed the most to the index's rise of +23 points. Stock-‎wise, Aramco (+1.3%), STC (+3%), and Alinma Bank (+1.8%) ‎contributed most to the rise of the index. The trading activity ‎witnessed an increase in volume and value by 5% and 8%, ‎respectively, to reach 176mn shares and SAR4.6bn. TASI may ‎come in for a new bout of volatility due to the drop in oil ‎prices and performance of international markets.‎

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets underwent a fresh bout of volatility ‎as the latest statement from Fed Chair, geopolitical tension ‎between the U.S and China and not so exciting economic data ‎in China tested investors' nerves. The testimony of Fed Chair ‎in the Senate only substantiates investors’ fears of possible ‎step up in the quantum of rate hike by the Fed and possible ‎new target of interest rate. The treasury yield curve further ‎steepened in the U.S while commodity prices tanked. The ‎S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite came in for nervous selling ‎pressure and dropped by 1.5% and 1.3% at session close.‎

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated from its ‎intraday high of 0.2% to close with 0.‎‏8‏‎% losses. Growth, energy ‎and mining names particularly came under selling pressure. ‎The performance of the country level indices was not any ‎different with major indices losing 0.1-0.6.‎

 

In Asia, the investors’ disappointment over less prospect of ‎any major fresh economic stimulus in near-term in China was ‎compounded by the weak export data. In addition, the latest ‎flare-up in geopolitical tension between the US and China ‎over latest sales of arms by the U.S to Taiwan and general ‎profit taking dragged down the major indices in China ‎‎(Shanghai: -1.1%) and Hong Kong (Hang Seng: -0.3%). Topix in ‎Japan was an exception to the norm and rose 0.4%.‎