Tadawul Review:

Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) sustained another session of ‎losses on Thursday on concerns of drop in oil prices and the ‎drop in bank prices to mark its lowest closing since ‎‎04/14/2021. The index, in the process, closed below the 10k ‎mark for the second time since 03/27/2023. TASI had ‎managed to sustain above 10k level before the closing ‎auction amid high volatility. However, the index lost 78 points ‎in the closing auction. Traded volumes and traded value ‎increased by 17% and 43%. The major losers for the session ‎include Banks (-0.9%), Energy (-1.6%) and Telecom (-1.1%). ‎Technically, the index faces a big litmus test today where the ‎negative momentum in the index and not-so-supportive ‎international markets backdrop may force the index to show ‎more volatility. Investors are likely to closely track any ‎updates relating to the financial sector in both the U.S (First ‎Republic Bank) and Europe (UBS-Credit Suisse). ‎

 

 

Market Wrap International:

The global markets closed the turbulent week with another ‎volatile session on Friday as investors’ fears of further stress in ‎banking stocks and global recession remained at the forefront. ‎The ECB did not give in to market uncertainty and continued ‎its battle with persistent inflation with another 50bp hike in ‎interest rate on Thursday. This has effectively put more ‎pressure on FOMC and its officials to make good on their ‎hawkish comments on interest rate. The treasury yields in the ‎U.S underwent another wild swing and were down by 14-‎‎32bps up to 10-year tenures. The troubled First Republic Bank ‎fell 33% despite a proposal of liquidity injection. The S&P 500 ‎and Nasdaq Composite were down 1.1% and 0.7% at session ‎close, paring gains seen in the previous session. All eleven listed ‎sectors on the S&P 500 were in red, led by financials and real ‎estate.‎

Europe painted a similar picture as the benchmark Stoxx ‎Europe 600 index fell 1.2% with a big drag from banks. The ‎talks of potential merger between UBS and its troubled global ‎peer, Credit Suisse, were the major focus area for investors. ‎The rate hike by the ECB also weighed on the investors' ‎sentiment. The country level indices faced similar fate.‎

In Asia, the market buckled the broader trend as all major ‎markets managed to eke out positive returns. Positive ‎economic data in China and the drop in the yields in the U.S ‎supported the positive move. The major markets were up in ‎the range of 0.6-1.6% led by HangSeng.‎

 

 

 

‎