Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) ended the last day of March ‎positively on Thursday, rising +87 points (+0.8%) to close at ‎‎10,590 levels, capping the monthly gains at +487 points ‎‎(MoM: +4.8%, YTD: +1.1%). TASI had opened the session ‎positively and continued to rise for the rest of the trading ‎hours until it closed at its intraday high. In general, 13 out of ‎‎20 sectors closed in the green zone, while 146 stocks rose ‎and 63 fell. Banks (+1.8%), Materials (+0.7%), and Health ‎care (+1.3%) sectors contributed the most to the index's rise ‎of +78 points. Stock-wise, Al Rajhi Bank (+1.7%), Saudi ‎National Bank (+2.2%), and Riyad Bank (+2.4%) contributed ‎most to the rise of the index. The trading volume activity ‎declined by 13% DoD to reach 219mn shares, while the ‎trading value increased by 9% DoD to reach SAR6.2bn.  TASI ‎is likely to sustain its current momentum with strong oil ‎prices, supportive moves in global equity markets and ‎optimism around the end-Dec result season.

 

 

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 Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets closed a volatile month on a ‎positive note amid encouraging economic data across the ‎three major centers. In the U.S, the reading for Fed’s favorite ‎inflation gauge of 5%, core PCE deflator, came in below ‎consensus expectation and provided an impetus to both bond ‎and equity markets. The FedSpeak also supported the market ‎moves. The treasury yields in the U.S eased while commodity ‎prices made further recovery. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ‎Composite closed with sizable gains of 1.4% and 1.7% with ‎tech & growth stocks in the lead.‎

In Europe, the headline inflation in the Europe region shrank ‎from 8.5% in Feb to 6.9% though the core element which strips ‎out food and energy components, remained sticky. The ‎investors also took a cue from positive economic data in Asia, ‎The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 0.7% and ‎partially erased monthly losses. Country level indices too ‎moved in the same direction. ‎

In Asia, economic data in China and corporate restructuring ‎plans of Alibaba and Jd.com remained key drivers in the region. ‎The latest data on service and manufacturing sector (PMI) for ‎Mar-23, alongside data on consumer spending, industrial ‎output and investment for the first two months, support the ‎thesis of a strong recovery in economic activity post lifting of ‎COVID-19 restrictions. Major indices jumped   by 0.4-1.8% ‎barring TAIEX in Taiwan which was largely unchanged ‎‎(+0.1%). ‎