Saudi Stock Exchange Gains Jump 17.5% Since Beginning of 2019

Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters
Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters
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Saudi Stock Exchange Gains Jump 17.5% Since Beginning of 2019

Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters
Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters

Saudi stock exchange gains jumped 17.5 percent since the beginning of the year, making it one of the world's most profitable stock markets in the first months of 2019.

In this regard, foreign investors continued to purchase in the Saudi stock market, as the latest statistics from the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) revealed that the foreign investors' share rose to 5.48% and that net foreign investors' liquidity reached 7.8% in favor of orders (purchase).

This new rise in foreign investment towards the Saudi stocks market represents an important indication of the high reliability of the country's financial market and reflects confidence in the strength and vitality of the Saudi economy.

In this context, the Saudi exchange index closed this week at a rise of around 109 points, at a level of 9,197 points compared to 9,088 points. It continued to rise for the sixth week in a row. Trading value witnessed a remarkable growth of SAR16.73 billion (USD4.46 billion) compared to around SAR15.53 billion (USD4.14 billion) in the past week.

The report by Tadawul, issued on Sunday, showed the rise of Gulf investors possession in the Saudi shares market to 2.04 percent.

In 2018, the Saudi listed companies recorded positive growth in profits up to SAR105.3 billion (USD28.08 billion).

Inclusion of Saudi Arabia into the S&P Dow Jones Emerging Market and FTSE Russell indices was an acknowledgment of the investors' continuous confidence in the market, which reflects the success of reforms and enhancements accomplished in tandem with Saudi Vision 2030 and the Financial Sector Development Program.



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."