Tadawul Equities Close Wednesday Subdued; Cenomi Centers Shares Tick Up
Saudi Exchange-traded shares ended Wednesday's trading 0.13% in the green as investors await the US Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes later in the day.The Tadawul All Share Index observed a temporary disruption, which the exchange operator attributed to a technical issue. The bourse fully resumed operations at 10:30 am local time."For today, the focus will be on tonight's release of the FOMC minutes for the July meeting. Recall that the vote was 9-3 for unchanged rates and the event proved a dovish one for the short end of the US curve and the dollar, while the long end sold off. The suspicion is that the 12-member FOMC is less hawkish than the participants whose projections delivered forecasts of a 9:9 split for a hike in the June set of Dot Plots. So while there may be a few hawkish references in tonight's minutes that could nudge the dollar and short-dated rates a little firmer, we do not see the minutes as a game changer," ING said in a note.In other news, oil prices rose as uncertainty regarding the operations of the Strait of Hormuz affected vessel traffic on the waterway. Reuters reported, citing data analytics company Kpler, that six commodity ships passed the area, which was less than the 10-day daily average of 11.Back at home and on the corporate front, Arabian Centres Co. (SASE:4321), d/b/a Cenomi Centers, secured a deal to plan, manage, and develop the Al Madinah Downtown project's retail and shopping mall elements. Shares of the real estate developer closed flat.Meanwhile, Nofoth Food Products (SASE:2288) shares ticked up 1.18% as it agreed to buy a 65% stake in Plenty Food Co. to boost and diversify its food and beverage portfolio.
