Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) declined, on Thursday’s ‎session by -81 points (-0.‎‏7‏‎%) to close at 11,622 levels. TASI ‎opened on a negative note with -43 points and continued ‎declining gradually throughout the session until the end. ‎Overall, 17 out of 20 sectors closed in the red zone, while ‎‎151 shares fell and 63 rose. Banks (-1.4%), Materials (-0.2%), ‎and Telecom (-0.6%) sectors contributed the most to the ‎index fall. Stockwise, Al Rajhi Bank (-1.3%), Saudi National ‎Bank (-2.2%), and Alinma Bank (-1.3%) were the major ‎contributors. The trading activity witnessed a decline in ‎volume and value of -12% and -9%, respectively, to reach ‎‎201mn shares and SAR5.2bn in value traded.‎

Market Wrap International:

In the U.S., investors approached the Christmas holiday ‎weekend, they considered recently released inflation data that ‎was lower than anticipated. This reinforced expectations for ‎potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in the ‎upcoming year. Analysts are also highlighting the delayed ‎market response to the Red Sea vessel attacks, which resulted ‎in exporters urgently seeking alternative routes. The S&P 500 ‎closed up by +0.2%, with all 10 sectors rising, and the Nasdaq ‎Composite also rose by +0.2%.‎

In Europe, investors analyzed the recent UK budget deficit ‎update and absorbed the lower-than-anticipated November ‎inflation data. The Stoxx Europe 600 ended up by +0.1%, ‎while the FTSE 100 was up by +0.04% as participants bet on ‎when the Bank of England (BoE) will start cutting interest ‎rates due to the budget deficit.‎

In Asia, Japan's benchmarks, Topix (+0.4%) and Nikkei 225 ‎‎(+0.1%), demonstrated positive performance following the ‎government's slight upward revision of economic growth ‎projections. In China, the Hang Seng index ended negatively by ‎‎-1.7%, and the Shanghai Composite index saw a decline of -‎‎0.1% as the People's Bank of China prepares to deliver its ‎latest policy decision.‎