Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) ended a 5-day gain by falling ‎on Thursday’s session by -58 points (-0.5%) at 11,848 levels. ‎TASI opened the session on a negative note by -12 points ‎and continued the session fluctuating around its opening ‎levels before dropping by -20 points in the closing auction. In ‎general, 14 out of 20 sectors closed in the red zone, while ‎‎120 of 223 shares fell and 88 rose. Banks (-0.7%), Health care ‎equipment and services (-1.7%), and Utilities (-1.7%) sectors ‎contributed the most to the index's -41-point fall. Stockwise, ‎Al Rajhi Bank (-0.9%), ACWA Power (-1.7%), and Aramco (-‎‎0.3%) were the major contributors. The trading activity ‎witnessed a declined in volume and value by -7% and -2%, ‎respectively, to reach 234mn shares and SAR6.5bn in value ‎traded.‎

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global equity markets broadly moved higher on Friday ‎amid positive economic data, monetary policy announcement ‎by BoJ and fresh measures to revive economic growth in China. ‎In the U.S, PPE data came in broadly in-line with consensus ‎expectations spurred market’s expectations of no rate hike by ‎Fed in Sep. The impact of the data was visible in both bond ‎‎(sovereign yields dropped by 5-6bps) and equity markets (S&P ‎‎500 Index rose by 1% to April-22 high). 9 out of 11 sectors on ‎the S&P 500 Index closed higher.‎

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index closed marginally ‎lower (-0.2%) on Friday, but still managed to mark the second ‎consecutive week of gains. The country level indices registered ‎nominal gains.‎

In Asia, the Bank of Japan announced tweaking its benchmark ‎‎10% rate though the central bank still refrained from making a ‎complete diversion to the current ultra-loose monetary policy ‎stance. The latest development created confusion regarding ‎BoJ’s commitment to stick to its policy stance in future. The ‎benchmark equity indices in Japan closed lower (Nikkie 225:-‎‎0.4%, Topix:-0.2%). The banking stocks, however, gained on ‎Friday as yields on 10-year bonds broke through the upper ‎ceiling set by the central bank. The Japanese currency also ‎saw intraday volatility. Rest of the Asian market took cue from ‎the latest measures in China. Tech names were particularly ‎bid up on further easing of regulatory concerns. Hang Seng ‎‎(+1.4%) and CSI 300 (+2.3%) made big strides. Res of the ‎major indices in the region rose by 0.2-1.8% barring Sensex in ‎India which dropped by 0.2%. ‎