Boursa closes trading with mixed board
Boursa Kuwait ended last week with mixed zone. The Price Index closed at 6,885.17 points, down by 0.01% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index increased by 1.11% after closing at 429.54 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 980.56 points up by 1.32%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 16.55%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 15.50 million, whereas trading volume average was 92.26 million shares, recording an increase of 8.56%.
The market indices closed with fluctuation by the end of last week amid mixed investment approaches for many traders in the market, whereas the Weighted and KSX15 indices were able to realize increases by the end of the week affected by the increased purchasing operations on many leading and heavy stocks, especially the listed stocks in the Banks and Telecommunications sectors, the most supporter sectors to the market during the current period due to its investment attractiveness and its low risk, while the Price Index went against the flow and ended the week’s trading in the red zone, recording limited weekly losses not exceeding 0.01%, affected by the profit collection operations executed on some small-cap stocks that realized different increases during the few last weeks.
In addition, and despite the fluctuations witnessed by the Boursa indices during the last week; its market capitalization recorded profit of around K.D. 320 million during the last five sessions, as the total value for the listed companies in the Boursa (Primary Market) by the end of last week reached K.D. 28.69 billion against K.D. 28.37 billion in the previous week, up by 1.13%; while the market cap gains on an annual level were enhanced to reach 12.91% compared to its value at end of 2016, where it reached then K.D. 25.41 billion. (Note: the market cap for the listed companies in the official market is calculated based on the average number of outstanding shares as per the latest available official financial statements).
As far as the daily trading activity, the market ended its first session of the last week with mixed closing to its three indices, as the session witnessed a noticeable purchasing activity on the small-cap and mid-cap stocks caused the Price and Weighted indices to increase, while the quick profit collection operations and the decreased purchasing activity on the leading stocks negatively reflected on the performance of KSX-15 Index to end the session’s activity in the red zone. On the second session of the week, the market was able to realize gains for the three indices affected by the purchasing trend witnessed by the market during most of the session and included many listed stocks headed by the leading ones, the most supporter to the market during the session, especially in the Banks sector.
The three market indices continued realizing gains in the mid-week session, supported by the continued purchasing and collection operations that included a wide ray of listed stocks of both leading and small-cap ones; while the Wednesday session witnessed a noticeable decline in the purchasing activity, which caused its three indices to fluctuate by the end of the session, where the Price and Weighted indices closed in the red zone affected by the profit collection operations on the small-cap stocks, while the KSX-15 Index was able to realize limited increase supported by the purchasing operations that targeted a number of heavy stocks.
On the end of week session, the fluctuation continued in having control over the market indices’ performance for the second consecutive session, where the profit collection operations that targeted some small-cap stocks continued its negative effect on the Price Index’s performance, to lose all its week’s gains during this session, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to end the session with good gains, to enhance its gains for the week
For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 19.78% annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 13.01%, and the KSX-15 recorded 10.80% growth.
Sectors’ Indices
Seven of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other five recorded decreases. Last week’s highest gainer was the Consumer Goods sector, achieving 5.28% growth rate as its index closed at 1,061.82 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Insurance sector’s index closed at 1,176.41 points recording 4.60% increase. The Basic Materials sector came in third as its index achieved 3.97% growth, ending the week at 1,307.47 points.
On the other hand, The Health Care sector headed the losers list as its index declined 3.86% to end the week’s activity at 1,618.89 points. The Technology sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.40%, closing 609.70 points, followed by the Industrial sector, as its index closed at 1,869.43 points at a loss of 1.99%.
Sectors’ Activity
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 178.81 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 38.76% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 24.92% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 114.97 million shares.
On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around K.D 24.48 million or 31.58% of last week’s total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. K.D 17.38 million representing 22.42% of the total market trading value.