8 things to watch on Tadawul today

Here are a few things you need to know as Saudi stocks start trading on Sunday.

1) Woman in Saudi Arabia got behind the wheel at midnight on Saturday as the ban on women driving in the Kingdom officially ended, according to a statement by Center for International Communication.

2) The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its non-member allies have agreed to bring down the compliance level to the 2016 production-cut agreement to 100 percent, from the over-commitment of nearly 150 percent that the group has shown in the past.

3) The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) will start implementing the market making program from the second half of 2018, Khalid Al Hussan, chief executive officer of Tadawul, told Argaam.

4) The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) could witness the first cross-listing from international company either by the end of this year or the first quarter of 2019, Mohammed El-Kuwaiz, chairman of Capital Markets Authority (CMA), told Argaam.

5) Tadawul could attract SAR 150 billion ($40 billion) worth of foreign fund inflows following its inclusion in MSCI's Emerging Market index, according to Mohammed El-Kuwaiz, chairman of CMA.

6) European Union’s antitrust regulators are set to approve Tronox’s buy of Cristal’s titanium dioxide business on conditions, including that both companies would sell assets to address competition concerns, Reuters reported.

7) The Saudi car insurance market is expected to see high competition among insurers that will seek to lure women drivers, Al Watan newspaper reported, citing Adel Al-Issa, the official spokesperson for insurance companies.

8) Geopolitical risks and absence of jumbo local and foreign currency issuance by some of the GCC countries led to a 15.2 percent decline in global sukuk issuance in the first six months of 2018, S&P Global Ratings said in a report.

Write to Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com