3 Firms Listed in Saudi Stock Market in 2018

The year 2019 is forecast to witness the biggest listings in the local Saudi stock market. (Getty Images)
The year 2019 is forecast to witness the biggest listings in the local Saudi stock market. (Getty Images)
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3 Firms Listed in Saudi Stock Market in 2018

The year 2019 is forecast to witness the biggest listings in the local Saudi stock market. (Getty Images)
The year 2019 is forecast to witness the biggest listings in the local Saudi stock market. (Getty Images)

The year 2019 is forecast to witness the biggest listings in the local Saudi stock market after 2018 witnessed the listing of two firms in the primary market and one in the Nomu parallel market.

Tadawul witnessed the issuance of eight sovereign funds in 2018 – the IPO of the two listed firms in the primary market witnessed operations covering up to 327 percent by individual investors.

In this regard, Tadawul witnessed in 2018 the IPO of Leejam Sports Company, representing a 30 percent stake. The National Company for Learning and Education (NCLE) issued an IPO for 30.2 percent.

In the same context, the Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) jumped Thursday 0.5 percent, closing at 7,830 points, rising 40 points. The overall value of trading totaled around SAR1.9 billion (USD506.6 million).

Investors in the stock market are awaiting the results of financial firms in Q4 2018, which began to be released on Tuesday. The results are estimated to be close to Q3 2018 levels.

The Ministry of Commerce and Investment had previously reported that the number of companies and institutions in the Kingdom jumped 35 percent during Q3 2018, compared to the same period of 2017, to reach 945,600.

The number of enterprises reached 824,700 in 2017 compared to 701,300 in the third quarter in 2016.



Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."