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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.

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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.