Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) ended its 6-day winning ‎streak to close lower on Wednesday, declining by 63 points (-‎‎0.6%) to settle at 10,410 levels. TASI opened the session ‎negatively, down by -53 points, due to fluctuations in Brent ‎oil prices and global market indices. The index continued to ‎decline during its first hour, reaching its intraday low of -146 ‎points, before TASI started reducing losses. In general, 13 out ‎of 20 sectors closed in the red zone, while 59 stocks rose and ‎‎152 fell. Banks (-1.2%), Materials (-0.8%), and Real Estate (-‎‎0.8%) sectors were the major drags on the index and ‎contributed a total of -60 points. Stocks-wise, Al Rajhi Bank ‎‎(-1.1%), Saudi National Bank (-1.9%), and SABIC (-1.2%) ‎pulled the index down the most. The trading activity ‎witnessed declines in volume and value by 16% and 10%, ‎respectively, to reach 148mn shares and SAR4.1bn. The index ‎is likely to follow the footsteps of its EM peers and may show ‎sideways moves in the near-term. ‎

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets remained in the grip of heightened ‎volatility amid rise in the treasury yields in the U.S and the ‎drop in commodity prices. The yield on 2-year U.S bond ‎crossed the 5% mark for the first time since 2007 while that of ‎‎10-year bond flirted with 4% mark. The latest economic data ‎on the labor market in the U.S came in firmer than expected ‎and supported a more hawkish stance of the U.S Fed on ‎interest rate. The investors were also tentative on the 2nd day ‎of the Fed Chair’s testimony in the Senate. The S&P 500 and ‎Nasdaq Composite fluctuated around the previous close and ‎ended the session with minor gains/ of ‎‏0.1‏‎% and ‎‏0.4‏‎%. ‎‏7‏‎ out of ‎‏11‏‎ sectors on the S&P 500 eked out positive returns. ‎

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index managed to pare ‎intraday losses and closed with little changed. The country ‎level indices moved in divergent directions. The revised data ‎for the Eurozone revealed 4Q GDP was flat, down from a ‎preliminary estimate of 0.1% growth. ‎

In Asia, the major indices digested the volatility in the U.S and ‎Europe markets following comments from the Fed chair a day. ‎HangSeng (-2.4%) and KOSPI (-1.3%) were the major ‎underperformers in the region while Topix (+0.3%) and Sensex ‎‎(+0.2%) managed to buckle the regional trend.‎