KSE equities come under selling pressure
KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 5,725.41 points, down by 0.71 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 1.68 percent after closing at 390.84 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 933.99 points down by 2.16 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 15.21 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 13.77 million, whereas trading volume average was 132.61 million shares, recording a loss of 8.90 percent.
The stock market witnessed negative performance due to the random selling operations that included many of the traded stocks during the week, which came as a result to many negative factors such as the worrying political situation that the world is living during this period, in addition to the noticeable current decline in the oil prices, which pushed the market to record noticeable decreases for the three indices, especially the Weighted and KSX-15 indices which recorded strong losses due to the profit collection operations that concentrated on the large-cap and the operational stocks, especially in the Banks sector; as well many of the small-cap stocks witnessed random selling operations, concentrated on the stocks that disclosed negative financial results for the third quarter of the current year, especially the investment companies that mostly witnessed varied losses by the end of the week, and negatively affected the Price Index performance to close in the red zone for the fourth consecutive week.
In addition, the stock market initiated the week’s trading activity with strong losses in the first session, as it witnessed a violent selling trend included lots of leading and small-cap stocks, which caused the three indices to record different losses by the end of the session, and came in parallel with the strong losses that hit many of the international and regional markets after the terrorist attacks witnessed in France by the end of last week. On the next session, the market was able to record limited gains that compensated a part of its previous losses, as the three indicators closed in the green zone after a fluctuated performance, before it return to the red zone on Tuesday and Wednesday’s sessions as a result to the return of the random selling operations in controlling the market trading activity, which negatively affected the three indicators’ performance, especially the Weighted and KSX-15 indices that were affected by the decline of the heavy stocks’ prices. Also, the market was able by the end of the week session to realize good growth for the three indices supported by the random purchasing operations that included many stocks and concentrated on some leading stocks, among limited growth in the trading value.
Moreover, the market cap for Kuwait Stock Exchange reached by the end of last week KD 25.96 billion, declining by 1.50 percent compared to its level in a week earlier, which was KD 26.36 billion. However on the annual level, the market cap for the listed companies in KSE declined by 7.22 percent from its value at end of 2014 where it reached then KD 27.98 billion.
As far as KSE annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 12.40 percent annual loss compared to its closing in 2014, while the Weighted Index decreased by 10.95 percent, and the KSX-15 contracted by 11.88 percent.
Sectors’ indices
Six of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other six recorded declines. Last week’s highest gainer was the Telecommunications sector, achieving 2.93 percent growth rate as its index closed at 594.07 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Consumer Services sector’s index closed at 1,013.94 points recording 2.14 percent increase. The Consumer Goods sector came in third as its index achieved 1.05 percent growth, ending the week at 1,114.75 points.
On the other hand, the Financial Services sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.58 percent to end the week’s activity at 627.54 points. The Banks sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.47 percent, closing at 928.07 points, followed by the Oil & Gas sector, as its index closed at 776.64 points at a loss of 0.56 percent.
Sectors’ activity
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 259.57 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 39.15 percent of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 26.45 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 175.37 million shares.
On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around KD 18.25 million or 26.50 percent of last week’s total market trading value. The Telecommunications sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. KD 13.05 million representing 18.95 percent of the total market trading value. — Prepared by the Studies & Research Department, Bayan Investment Co.