Tadawul Review: 

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) rose on Thursday, up by +63 points (+0.5%) to close at 11,659 levels. The trading session started positively, as the opening rose by 7 points, then began to rise gradually until it closed at the highest point at the end of the session. In general, 13 out of 21 sectors closed in the green zone, and 122 shares rose while 100 fell. Insurance (+3.9%), Utilities (+2.2%), and Energy (+1.2%) sectors contributed the most to the index rise. Stockwise, Aramco (+1.3%),  ACWA Power (+2.9%), and Al Rajhi Bank (+0.6%) were the major contributors. The trading activity witnessed a decline in volume and value of -17% and -1%, respectively, to reach 186mn shares and SAR4.9bn in value traded.

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global markets opened higher on Friday after being closed on Thursday for Independence Day. The S&P 500 index closed up by +0.5%, with 8 out of the 11 sectors recording gains. Additionally, the Nasdaq Composite index and Dow Jones index both closed positively, with gains of +0.9% and +0.2% respectively. The rally was fueled by new data showing weakness in the U.S. labor market, which increased expectations for interest rate cuts as early as September. Megacap stocks such as Microsoft (MSFT.O) played a significant role in the rally, with a rise of nearly 1.5% to reach a record high.

In Europe, European stocks closed flat on Thursday as signs of improving economic activity prompted investors to scale back expectations for interest rate cuts this year and tempered optimism around strong forecasts from AI darling Nvidia. The EURO STOXX 600 index, CAC index in France, and FTSE 100 index closed down by -0.2%, -0.3%, and -0.5% respectively.

Asian equities declined on Friday, with the Hang Seng Index falling by -1.3% due to new tariffs imposed by the European Union on electric cars. This affected EV makers Geely and Li Auto. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index remained unchanged at 40,912, while the broader Topix Index decreased by -0.5% to 2,884. Investors became cautious ahead of a crucial US jobs report, causing Japanese shares to retreat slightly from all-time highs.