Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) ended Wednesday's session ‎down -259 points (-2.5%), breaking the 10,200 level and ‎settling at 10,185, which is its lowest closing level since May ‎‎9, 2021 (10,228). TASI opened the session at the same level ‎as before, but was soon exposed to strong selling pressure ‎and declined significantly for the rest of the session, as it ‎closed at its intraday low. In general, all sectors except ‎Commercial & Professional Svc closed in the red zone, while ‎‎41 stocks rose and 155 fell. Banks (-3.9%), Materials (-2.4%), ‎and Energy (-1.3%) sectors were the major drags on the ‎index and contributed a total of 195 points. Stocks-wise, Al ‎Rajhi Bank (-4.9%), Saudi National Bank (-3.1%), and Aramco ‎‎(-1.2%) pulled the index down the most. The trading activity ‎witnessed a decline in volume and value by 14% and 26%, ‎respectively, to reach 115mn shares and SAR3.7bn. The ‎negative momentum in the index is showing no sign of ‎relenting. Possibility of the index testing 10k psychological ‎levels is high. ‎

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity indices sustained the negative momentum ‎for the third straight session on Wednesday with investors ‎taking the opportunity to take some bets off ahead of the ‎much-anticipated FOMC decision next week and the ‎disappointing economic data in China. The benchmarks in the ‎U.S flipped flopped between gains and losses through the ‎session but managed to close with small loss at the session ‎end. The latest economic data has forced investors to revisit ‎the views on terminal interest rates in the U.S and the path of ‎future interest rate changes. Communication Services and Information Technology were the major losers ‎for the day.‎

In Europe, the Stoxx Euro 600 Index dropped by -0.6%, ‎recording losses for the fourth straight session. Investors took a ‎cue from the movement of U.S indices and the below-‎expected data in China. The country-level indices also moved ‎in tandem with the regional benchmark.‎

 

In Asia, the country level indices were influenced by weak ‎trade data in China, showing the impact of COVID-19 ‎lockdowns in the country and slow-down in the global demand. ‎The announcements of easing of quarantine measures and ‎COVID tests by the authorities stirred a muted response from ‎investors. The indices in Hong Kong (HangSeng: -3.2%) and ‎China (Shanghai Composite: -0.4%) were down on profit taking ‎and weak economic data.  TAIEX (-0.7%) and KOSPI (-0.4%) ‎also recorded modest declines while SENSEX and TOPIX were ‎largely unchanged for the session.‎