Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) declined for the second ‎consecutive session on Wednesday and fell 175 points (-1.5%) ‎to close at 11,799 levels. TASI started the session at the ‎previous closing level with a slight increase (+10 points), and ‎then gradually declined throughout the period of normal ‎trading hours by 221 points. In the closing auction, the index ‎managed to reduce some of its losses by adding +46 points. In ‎general, 16 sectors out of 20 closed in the red, while 55 ‎shares rose and 146 shares fell. The decline was led by the ‎Banks (-2.1%), followed by the Materials (-1.7%) and Energy ‎‎(-1.8%) sectors, which contributed to the decline of the index ‎by a total of 139 points. Amongst stocks, Al Rajhi Bank (-‎‎1.7%), followed by Aramco shares (-1.8%), and the shares of ‎the Saudi National Bank (-2.6%), pulled the index down the ‎most. Trading activity also witnessed a decrease in the ‎volume and value of trade, -3% and -1%, respectively, to ‎reach 160mn shares and SAR6.2bn. Given the rise in oil prices ‎and the earnings results season, the TASI is likely to stabilize ‎in the coming sessions.‎

 

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets retreated on Wednesday with ‎earnings disappointment from the U.S tech companies and ‎nervousness over the upcoming ECB’s decision on rate hike. ‎The yields on U.S treasuries retreated further alongside the ‎U.S dollar index for the third straight session. In the U.S, the ‎earnings and future guidance by the tech companies failed to ‎live upto investors’ expectations. The benchmark indices gave ‎away some of the gains (S&P 500 Index:-0.‎‏7‏‎%, Nasdaq ‎Composite: -2%)  from Tuesday led by tech and meta stocks.‎

In Europe, the recovery in the regional currencies sustained for ‎one more session. Importantly, Euro regained parity against ‎USD after almost one month. Pound Sterling too regained ‎some ground. The upcoming decision of ECB due on Thursday ‎‎(expected hike of 75bps)‎‏.‏The latest data in the U.S ‎supporting and the recovery in currencies helped STOXX ‎Europe 600 to gain 0.7% at session course. The country-level ‎indices reflected the similar trends with FTSE-100 and DAX ‎closing higher by 0.6/1.1% respectively.‎

 

In Asia, the moves in the currency market and the ongoing ‎result season brought renewed interest and propelled the key ‎indices higher. The latest reassurance by Chinese authorities to ‎ensure a “healthy financial market” also added to positivity in ‎the region. All major indices moved higher with HangSeng ‎‎(+1%) in Hong Kong and Shanghai Composite (+0.8%) in China ‎stealing the show despite newsflow over fresh lockdown ‎measures in Wuhan. Tech was the major outperformer in the ‎region.‎