Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI), after a positive opening, succumbed to selling pressure losing 40 points (-0.3%) to close at 13,503 levels. The index maintained its negative momentum and made an intraday low of -80 points before recovering. Banks (-1.6%), Health Care (-0.6), and Utilities (-0.5%) contributed the most index decline while Materials (-+0.9%) and Energy (1.0%) turned out to be major gainers. The trading activity receded by 13% to record 158 mn shares while value traded almost remained flat. The index is likely to remain lackluster in the near term given the lack of positive triggers.

Market Wrap International:

All three major indices closed lower on Tuesday, indicating that US markets are still under pressure. Despite a hopeful recovery throughout Monday's trading session, prices continued to fall, with the S&P500 ending the day -2.8% lower at 4,175, and the Nasdaq100 (-4.0%) closing at 12,491. Consumer discretionary stocks were the worst hit in the S&P500, with the sector index falling over 5%, while energy stocks stabilized. Following dismal quarterly reports from several of the largest technology companies, including Alphabet (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT), US shares were under pressure in after-market trading as well. Google's parent firm, Alphabet, reported the slowest quarterly revenue growth since 2020, and came in around $40 million short of market estimates.

Concerns about geopolitical tensions and economic growth threats weighed on investor appetite, causing European shares to fall. After gaining as high as 1% earlier, the Stoxx Europe 600 index fell -0.9% to a six-week low. Following dismal earnings reports from HSBC Holdings Plc and Banco Santander SA, technology companies, as well as automakers and retailers, sank. Banks also dipped. Miners recovered from Monday's drop, and energy stocks rose in tandem with oil. On Tuesday, geopolitics erupted, with Russia apparently shutting off natural gas imports to Poland as European Union members consider an embargo on Russian oil shipments. Gas prices in Europe have risen by as much as 17%.

Asian stock markets pared early gains on Tuesday as PBOC’s announcement to further support the Chinese economy failed to uplift the markets. PBOC pledged support to the economy via prudent monetary policy, targeted financing for small businesses, and quick resolution of the crackdown on tech. firms. The comments followed the PBOC’s decision to cut Bank’s forex reserve requirement ratio by 1 percentage point. The SHCOMP, after recording early gains, managed to slip by -1.4% while Hang Seng also gave up early gains to close up by only +0.3%. Nikkei 225 and KOSPI both increased by 0.4% while SENSEX rose by 1.5%.