Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) recorded the fourth ‎consecutive losses falling by 82 points (-0.8%) on Thursday to ‎close at 10,702 levels. TASI had a volatile trading session, ‎beginning negatively and accelerated its decline in the final ‎hours of trading, recording its intraday low by 134 points ‎before paring some of its losses at the end of the session. In ‎general, 14 out of 20 sectors closed in the red zone, while 77 ‎stocks rose and 129 fell. Banks (-1%), Materials (-1.1%), and ‎Energy (-0.9%) sectors were the major drags on the index ‎and contributed a total of -64 points. Stocks-wise, Aramco (-‎‎0.9%), Alinma Bank (-4.3%), and Al Rajhi Bank (-0.7%) pulled ‎the index down the most. The trading activity witnessed an ‎improvement in volume and value by 30% and 11%, ‎respectively, to reach 172mn shares and SAR4.1bn. The index ‎is likely to see more downside negativity with the drop in oil ‎prices, volatility in international markets and not-so-positive ‎guidance from management in banking sector so far. ‎

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets were in the grip of bears on Friday ‎on new economic data release in the U.S and general ‎disappointment over results. The labor market data in the U.S ‎showed non-farm payroll surged by over 517k, way ahead of ‎the consensus forecast of 188k. The job additions pushed down ‎the unemployment rate in the U.S to 3.4%, the lowest since ‎‎1969. Most of the upside in the risky assets across ‎commodities to treasuries, currencies to real estate before and ‎after the build-up over the policy decision last week was ‎unwound post the surprising labor market data in the U.S on ‎Friday. The S&P 500 Index was down ‎‏1‏‎%, while tech heavy ‎Nasdaq Composite fell ‎‏1.6‏‎%. Growth stocks, tech names and ‎energies were particularly battered. Disappointing results and ‎post result management guidance also added to investors’ ‎nervousness. All 11 listed sectors on the S&P 500 closed in red.‎

In Europe, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index was up ‎‎0.3%. Energy names supported the index while real estate, ‎along with tech names, were major drags on the index. The ‎FTSE-100 Index rose 1% on Friday, marking its new all-time ‎high. CAC40 in France surged by 0.9% while DAX in Germany ‎closed negative. European markets closed for trading before ‎the release of U.S labor data.‎

 

In Asia, indices moved in divergent directions. Indices in Hong ‎Kong (Hang Seng:-1.4%), China (Shanghai Composite:-.7%) ‎were the major underperformers in the region. SENSEX in ‎India surged 1.5%, decoupling from the precipitous drop in ‎stocks associated with Adani Group. Indices in Japan ‎‎(TOPIX:+0.3%, strong results) and Korea (KOSPI:+0.5%) closed ‎positive while TAIEX in Taiwan was little changed. ‎