Market continues recording weekly losses

Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,711.16 points, down by 0.83% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.42% after closing at 422.75 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 966.70 points down by 0.39%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased of 2.44%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 26.84 million, whereas trading volume average was 277.66 million shares, recording a increased by 6.39%.

The market continued recording weekly losses for its three indices, amid the continued strong selling wave that included many leading and small-cap stocks in most of the sectors, and despite the positive start of the market trading where the three indices recorded grouped gains due to the purchasing trend on some stocks; the quick return of the profit collection operations and the strong selling pressures that were present in the sessions thereafter, which pushed the Boursa indices to decline once again. The Boursa witnessed such performance in light of a slight increase in the trading indicators during the week, whereas the total value increased by 21.95% to reach KD 134.20 million, and the stock volume increased to reached 1.39 billion stocks, up by 6.39%.

Boursa Kuwait lost around KD 170 million of its market cap during the last week reaching KD 28.04 billion, and down by 0.60% compared to the previous week’s closings, where it reached then KD 28.21 billion. On an annual level, the market cap gains since the beginning of the year contracted to reach 10.35%, compared to its level at end of 2016 where it was KD 25.41 billion.

The Boursa Kuwait initiated its first session of the last week with good gains to the three indices, supported by the purchasing activity witnessed by the market during most of the session’s period, which concentrated on the leading stocks especially in the Banks Sector, in addition to the speculative trading and the random purchasing operations that included some small-cap stocks that belong to the main investment groups of the market. Such performance came amid a declined trading activity, where the value dropped by 4.67% and the volume decreased by 26.67% at the end of the session. On the next session, the Boursa Kuwait witnessed a mixed performance for the three indices, where the Price and Weighted indices declined affected by the profit collection trend that included many small-cap stocks, in addition to the selling pressures that targeted some heavy stocks, while the KSX-15 Index was able to realize limited increase by the end of the session supported by the random purchasing operations executed on a number of leading and operational stocks.

On the mid-week session, the Boursa Kuwait indices returned to close in the red zone, in light of the selling operations’ control over the Boursa trading during most of the session’s period, in addition to the quick speculative operations executed mostly on the small-cap stocks. The session ended with losses despite the noticeable growth witnessed by the trading indicators especially the cash liquidity, where the trading value increased by the end of the session by 47.18%, and the volume grew by 32.68 during the session compared to the previous session. The Boursa continued recording losses for the three indices in the next session which witnessed also a limited drop in the trading indicators, which came in light of the continued selling pressures on many small-cap stocks, especially the ones that did not disclose its 2016 annual results.

On the end of week session, the Boursa Kuwait was able to redirect its performance to the upward direction, and was able to end the session’s trading with different gains to the three indices, which enabled it to compensate some of its previous losses, and to contract its indices’ decline on a weekly level, where such came as a result to the return of the purchasing operations executed

on the small-cap stocks after the noticeable declines recorded in the earlier sessions, in addition to the random purchasing operations that targeted some leading stocks . The Boursa realized its gains during the session in parallel with the increased trading activity during the same session, where the volume increased by 51.09% and the cash liquidity jumped by 50.69%, compared to Wednesday’s level.

For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 16.75% annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the weighted index increased by 11.22%, and the KSX-15 recorded 9.23% growth.

Sectors’ Indices

Seven of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other five recorded increases. The Technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 5.89% to end the week’s activity at 819.64 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.14%, closing at 631.54 points, followed by the Financial Services sector, as its index closed at 746.41 points at a loss of 2.00%. The Consumer Services sector was the least declining as its index closed at 953.81 points with a 0.80% decrease.

On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Health Care sector, achieving 3.41% growth rate as its index closed at 1,491.26 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Basic Materials sector’s index closed at 1,344.88 points recording 3.14% increase. The Consumer goods sector came in third as its index achieved 0.22% growth, ending the week at 1,196.99 points.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 556.89 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 40.13% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 26.27% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 364.64 million shares.

On the other hand, the Financial Services sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around K.D 47.00 million or 34.35% of last week’s total market trading value. The Banks sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx KD 35.28 million representing 26.29% of the total market trading value.

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