Tadawul Equities End Monday Lower Ahead of Saudi Q2 Unemployment Data

MT Newswires · 2d ago
08:34 AM EDT, 09/28/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The Tadawul All Share Index is back in the red as it ended the Monday trading session 0.96% lower ahead of the release of Saudi Arabia's second-quarter unemployment data on Wednesday. Investors are also on the lookout for the outcome of Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan's meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The discussions will focus on the conflict between the kingdom and the Houthi group. In other news, market watchers are also focusing on the latest US jobs report and its potential effect on the US Federal Reserve's next interest rate move. "Markets will look for fresh evidence of a hot US economy from this week as September figures start to flow in. Upside surprises in jobs data could take rate hike pricing for the October FOMC above 20bp," ING said in a note. "The August CPI report on 14 October will be the most important release, but Friday's jobs figures have the potential to take October rate hike pricing above 20bp. We expect a consensus 90k for September payrolls, but see risks of downward revisions to August's blowout 162k print." Back at home and on the corporate front, Edarat Communication and Information Technology (SASE:9557) entered into a 42-month subscription deal for VMware cloud software licenses. Shares of the technology services company closed 0.87% higher. Meanwhile, Specialized Medical Co. (SASE:4019), d/b/a SMC Healthcare, shares were 0.06% in the red as it signed a contract worth 148.4 million Saudi riyals to execute the building works for the SMC3 Hospital project in Riyadh.