Canada stocks-Toronto market climbs to 4-week high
Canada’s main stock index rose for a third day on Thursday, as optimism that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was less severe than feared bolstered commodity prices and data showed that the domestic economy likely grew in November.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 148.88 points, or 0.7 percent, at 21,218.93, adding to gains on Tuesday and Wednesday and its highest closing level since Nov. 25.
Wall Street’s main indexes also rose after more encouraging developments about the impact of the Omicron variant.
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Saudi bourse’s main stock index TASI retreated 0.5pc
In the previous trading session, Saudi bourse’s main stock index TASI retreated 0.5 percent to 11,204 points and the parallel market Nomu lost 2.75 percent to close at 26,409 points, despite five consecutive days of gains.
That said, it is noteworthy that many stocks saw gains following their year-end dividend distribution announcements, with the Saudi Investment Bank, or SAIB, topping that list, up 9.11 percent to its highest closing value in over two years, SR19.16 ($5.1), on higher dividends.
Not only Saudi, but most major GCC stock exchanges edged down as coronavirus-induced uncertainty lingered.
The UAE’s DFMGI saw the biggest decline among Gulf bourses, down 0.8 percent, followed by Abu Dhabi’s index ADI which dropped 0.8 percent.
Stock indices of Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait secured gains in the range of 0.3 percent to 0.9 percent.
Apart from the GCC, the Egyptian index EGX30 continued the upward trend, up 0.9 percent.
As of early morning Friday, Brent crude oil was up $0.25, or 0.33 percent, to $75.54 per barrel, while US WTI crude was up 0.32 percent to $72.99 per barrel.
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Chinese stocks cut $600 billion from U.S. markets in 2021
Chinese stocks that trade in the U.S. have always been a double-edged sword for investors, but Americans now face a wicked blade as years of buildup leads to an inevitable end.
After hundreds of sketchy offerings on U.S. markets for young China-based companies with huge potential for either growth or complete collapse, the market in these stocks fell apart in 2021.
“Valuations have declined sharply. There have been no IPOs in the last few months. And there have been a number of going-private transactions.
Matthew Kennedy, a senior strategist with Renaissance Capital, an IPO research firm that also has two IPO-focused ETFs IPOS, -1.15 percent IPO, +0.87 percent, said there were 30 China-based IPOs on U.S. exchanges in the first half of 2021 and only four in the second half, before the window shut. This year, he said 34 Chinese companies raised $12.6 billion by going public in the U.S., up from 30 deals in 2020 that raised $11.7 billion, excluding SPACs (special- purpose acquisition corporations).
But the results for the U.S. investors who bought those stocks have not been as rosy.
“Even if the Chinese government and the U.S. government gave these companies the green light, the average return for [Chinese based] 2021 U.S. IPOs is negative-42 percent. Only 12 percent are trading positive,” he pointed out.
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KSE-100 marches upward over drop in PIB yields
The Pakistan Stock Exchange experienced a tepid trading session on Thursday and the KSE-100 index rose 92 points however absence of any significant development capped gains.
Robust participation in Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) auction on Wednesday coupled with a drop in the yields of securities in the secondary market signaled a status quo in the monetary policy due next month. This news flow in particular revived investor sentiments and brought the two day bearish spell to an end.
Pressure to the downside was led by uncertainty on the mini-budget that was scheduled to be announced by the end of December 2021.
Trading kicked off at a positive note and the market inched closer to the 44,500 point barrier in early hours however economic uncertainty erased few of the gains by midday. From this point on, the market remained largely range bound but still it managed to end the day on an optimistic note.
At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 91.94 points or 0.21 percent to settle at 44,266.91.
Market opened in the green zone as SBP raised Rs158 billion through PIBs, hefty participation indicating yields to stay at the same level in the near future.
Market battled between the bulls and bears throughout the day due to lack of any key positive trigger.
Main board volumes remained dull whereas activity continued to move side-ways as market witnessed hefty volumes in the third tier stocks, the report added.
Market closed at the level of 44,267, up by 92 points.
Total traded volume stood at 240 million shares where Hum Network (+10.6 percent), TRG Pakistan (+5.8 percent), Unity Foods (+2.0 percent), Summit Bank (+8.6 percent) and WorldCall Telecom (+0.5 percent) accounted for 47 percent of the aggregate volume.
Overall trading volumes rose to 240.4 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 151.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.02 billion.
Shares of 357 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 199 stocks closed higher, 135 declined and 23 remained unchanged.
Hum Network was the volume leader with 48.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.66 to close at Rs6.88. It was followed by TRG Pakistan with 19.9 million shares, gaining Rs6.82 to close at Rs124.35 and Unity Foods with 17.7 million shares, gaining Rs0.54 to close at Rs27.69.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs55.7 million worth of shares during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan.