Boursa Kuwait ends mixed during Sept as volume slips
Market cap posts monthly losses of more than KD15 million
Report prepared by Bayan
Investment Co
Boursa Kuwait ended September with mixed performance. The Premier Market Index closed at 5,343.91 points, up by 1.56%, the Main Market Index decreased by 3.30% after closing at 4,735.62 points, whereas the All-Share Index closed at 5,128.04 points down by 0.08%. Furthermore, last month’s average daily turnover increased by 24.89%, compared to the preceding month, reaching KD 26.19 million, whereas trading volume average was 105.04 million shares, recording a decrease of 0.21%.
The Premier Market Index succeeded in recording relatively good gains supported by the purchasing activity that concentrated on the leading companies’ stocks, especially the stocks that joined FTSE Russel Index by the end of last month, which drew many traders’ attention and acquired large percentage of the market cash liquidity, amid an optimism in the investment arena for an improved performance of such stocks, especially after the issuance of some reports that expected more pumping of foreign cash liquidity into the market for the coming period due to the Boursa promotion into the Emerging Markets, which put it on the international map to attract more investments. On the other hand, the Main and All-Share indices performance did not go in the same direction as the Premier Market performance during the last month, as many listed stocks were subject to strong selling pressures and noticeable liquidating operations, which reflected on the performance of the Main and AllShare indices, to go against Premier Market Index’s direction and end the month of September in the red zone.
In addition, the market capitalization of the Boursa recorded monthly losses of more than KD 15 million, as it reached by the end of last month KD 28.70 billion, down by 0.06% of its level in the previous month, where it was KD 28.71 billion. The market cap gains since the application of the new market segmentation contracted to reach KD 839.45 billion, reaching 3.01%. (Note: The market capitalization for the listed companies in the Boursa is calculated based on the weighted average number of outstanding stocks as per the latest available official financial statements).
Moreover, the third quarter period for year 2018 ended by the end of the last month, meaning that the Market is entering a new state of watch for the listed companies results for the same period, especially the stocks of leading companies that witnessed active trading during the previous period, and mainly the stocks that were listed within FTSE Russel Index.
Furthermore, and despite the fluctuation witnessed by the Boursa during the last month, the trading activity witnessed a noticeable increase especially in the cash liquidity, as the total trading value recorded an increase of 46.93%, after it reached around KD 523.82 million. Also, the total traded volume recorded a growth of 17.40% approx, after it reached around 2.10 billion stock.
After six months of the application of the Market Segmentation, the Premier Market Index’s gains reached 6.88%, while the Main Market Index losses contracted to reach 5.29%, and the All-Share Index growth reached 2.56%.
Eight of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last month in the red zone, four recorded increases. The Real Estate sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 9.56% to end the month’s activity at 892.48 points. The Consumer Services sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 6.38%, closing at 989.54 points, followed by the Consumer Goods sector, as its index closed at 843.17 points at a loss of 5.30%. The Healthcare sector was the least declining as its index closed at 995.60 points with a 0.07% decrease.
On the other hand, last month’s highest gainer was the Basic Materials sector, achieving 4.07% growth rate as its index closed at 1,163.75 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Oil & Gas sector’s index closed at 1,134.25 points recording 3.38% increase. The Banks sector was the least growing as its index closed at 1,085.98 points with a 2.24% increase.
The Banks sector dominated a total trade volume during the last month of 681.03 million shares changing hands, representing 32.42% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 26.54% of last month’s total trading volume, with a total of 557.46 million shares.
On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 309.32 million or 51.24% of last month’s total market trading value. The Industrial sector took the second place as the sector’s last month turnover of KD 83.72 million representing 13.87% of the total market trading value.
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