Despite a positive start (61.36 points), a bearish trend continued to prevail at Saudi stock market last week.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI), reflecting a falling peak-trough combination continued stepping its way lower throughout the week, ended in the red territory at 7,057.01 points, down 47.49 points or 0.67 percent from its previous weekend close at 7,104.5 points. Its
weekly trading range expanded to 145.7 points as compared to previous week's 73.5 points.
On year-to-date basis, the TASI’s yield reached to 639.28 points or 9.96 percent.
The market capitalization of Saudi stock exchange decreased slightly (-0.54 percent), reaching at the previous week’s level of SR 1.4 trillion. Small cap performed worst among the market cap indices, declining more than 1.39 percent in a week.
Sectoral performance was negative, as 13 out of the 15 sectors closed in downward territory, paring an aggregate of 795 points for the entire week.
Hotel & Tourism sector posted the largest losses, falling 2.01 percent to close the week at 7,589.19. Media and Multi-Investment sectors followed it, trimming 1.95 percent and 1.82 percent respectively. Only Transport and Energy sectors remained green, reflecting a weekly growth of 1.59 percent and 0.25 percent respectively.
Decliners outnumbered the advancers by a margin of 101 to 45 and the prices of 8 stocks remained unchanged last week.
Most of heavy weights closed in red, with Kingdom Holding changing its position from top gainer of previous week to the biggest loser of the week, down 2.28 percent. The market leader SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) followed it, dipping by 2.20 percent. However, Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co. (SAFCO) outdid rest of the heavyweight peers, advancing 0.8 percent to close the week at SR 188.5.
Among all Saudi companies, Gulf General Insurance (+12.3 percent) and Al-Sorayai Trading & Industrial Group (+10.45 percent) showing notable gains became the key performers of the week.
Allianz Saudi Fransi, on the other hand, came out as the worst performing stock, topping the decliner weekly chart with 18.28 percent negative change.
Tadawul weekly turnover went down by 19.7 percent in terms of volume and 15.7 percent in terms of value. More than 1 billion shares worth SR 29.3 billion changed hands on the Saudi stock market.
Furthermore, upside-downside volume ratio of 0.4:1 remained slightly weak.
Most of the major benchmark indices at GCC stock markets ended the week in green.
The benchmark GulfBase GCC General Index closed the week higher at 3,967.42 points level, adding 16.09 points or 0.41 percent for the entire week.
Tadawul turnover falls 19.7 percent
Tadawul turnover falls 19.7 percent
Global trade isn’t deglobalizing — it’s reshuffling, Harvard economist says
ALULA: Global trade is not retreating into deglobalization despite geopolitical shocks, but is instead undergoing a structural reshuffling led by US-China tensions, according to Harvard University economist Pol Antras.
Presenting research at the AlUla Emerging Market Economies Conference, Antras said there is no evidence that countries are systematically turning inward. Instead, trade flows are being redirected across markets, creating winners and losers depending on export structure and exposure to Chinese competition.
This comes as debate intensifies over whether supply-chain disruptions, industrial policy and rising trade barriers signal the end of globalization after decades of expansion.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the event, Antras said: “I think the right way to view it is more a reorganization, where things are moving from some countries to others rather than a general trend where countries are becoming more inward looking, in a sense of producers selling more of their stuff domestically than internationally, or consumers buying more domestic products than foreign products.”
He said a change of that scale has not yet happened, which is important to recognize when navigating the reshuffling — a shift his research shows is driven by Chinese producers redirecting sales away from the US toward other economies.
He added that countries are affected differently, but highlighted that the Kingdom’s position is relatively positive, stating: “In the case of Saudi Arabia, for instance, its export structure, what it exports, is very different than what China exports, so in that sense it’s better positioned so suffer less negative consequences of recent events.”
He went on to say that economies likely to be more negatively impacted than the Kingdom would be those with more producers in sectors exposed to Chinese competition. He added that while many countries may feel inclined to follow the United States’ footsteps by implementing their own tariffs, he would advise against such a move.
Instead, he pointed to supporting producers facing the shock as a better way to protect and prepare economies, describing it as a key step toward building resilience — a view Professor Antras underscored as fundamental.
Elaborating on the Kingdom’s position amid rising tensions and structural reorganization, he said Saudi Arabia holds a relative advantage in its economic framework.
“Saudi Arabia should not be too worried about facing increased competitive pressures in selling its exports to other markets, by its nature. On the other hand, there is a benefit of the current situation, which is when Chinese producers find it hard to sell in US market, they naturally pivot to other markets.”
He said that pivot could benefit importing economies, including Saudi Arabia, by lowering Chinese export prices. The shift could increase the Kingdom’s import volumes from China while easing cost pressures for domestic producers.
