Kuwait stocks come under pressure

BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Boursa Kuwait ended last week with mixed performance. The Price Index closed at 5,321.46 points, down by 0.12 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.15 percent after closing at 346.11 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 805.00 points up by 0.15 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 126.92 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 12.23 million, whereas trading volume average was 78.85 million shares, recording an increase of 115.13 percent.

The Bourse performance was weak in general during the last week, whereas the three indices recorded noticeable losses in the three first sessions of the week as a result to the selling trend that included many traded stocks of large-cap and small-cap, before it could realize increase in the last two sessions, which enabled it to compensate a large part of such losses, especially the KSX-15 Index which was able to compensate its loss totally and end the week in the green zone.

The Bourse witnessed such performance in light of a noticeable increase in the trading levels where it reached good positions compared to the previous weeks, as the total traded volume during the last week reached 115.13 percent compared to the previous week to reach 394.25 million share, while the total trading value grew by the end of the week to reach KD 61.15 million, against KD 26.95 million in the earlier week, and up by 126.92 percent. Such performance came in light of concentrating the pumped liquidity to the market on the leading stocks, especially in the Banks sector, which acquired over 52 percent of the Bourse’s liquidity over the last week.

As per the daily trading activity, the Boursa Kuwait started its first session of the last week with a drop in all its indices affected by the selling pressures and the profit collection operations that included a wide range of stocks, especially the small-cap stocks that are expected to disclose negative results for the third quarter of the current year; while the Bourse continued its negative performance in the second session and its three indices closed in the red zone, amid continued selling pressures that concentrated on the leading stocks, which pushed the trading value to record a large increase by 174 percent. On the mid-week session, the Kuwait Bourse continued recording consecutive losses for the three indices amid continued selling pressures in controlling the trading direction and its concentration on the Banks sector’s stock in particular.

On Wednesday’s session, the Bourse was able to realize increase for its three indices for the first time in the week, supported by the return of the purchasing operations, amid concentration on the leading stocks especially in the Banks sector. Also, the Kuwait Bourse continued its positive performance at the end of week session in light of a noticeable purchasing activity on the leading stocks, which was positively reflected on the three indices, especially KSK-15 which was able to compensate all its losses recorded in the early sessions of the week, to end it in the green zone. Such performance came in light of a big growth in the pumped liquidity to reach KD 22.08 million, the highest level since last March.

By the end of the last week, the market capitalization for the listed companies in official market reached KD23.24 billion, down by 0.18 percent compared to its level in the week earlier, where it reached then KD 23.29 billion. On an annual level, the decline in market cap for the listed companies in the official market increased to reach 8 percent from its value at end of 2015, where it reached then KD 25.27 billion.

As far as Boursa Kuwait’s annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 5.23 percent annual loss compared to its closing in 2015, while the weighted index decreased by 9.32 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 10.60 percent loss.

Sectors’ Indices

Seven of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other five recorded increases. The Telecommunications sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 1.50 percent to end the week’s activity at 558.65 points. The Real Estate sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.38 percent, closing at 794.25 points, followed by the Financial Services sector, as its index closed at 537.38 points at a loss of 0.87 percent. The Health Care sector was the least declining as its index closed at 1,046.80 points with a 0.40 percent decrease.

On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 1.80 percent growth rate as its index closed at 991.79 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Industrial sector’s index closed at 1,181.28 points recording 1.30 percent increase. The Insurance sector came in third as its index achieved 1.15 percent growth, ending the week at 946.68 points. The Consumer Services sector was the least growing as its index closed at 911.82 points with a 0.30 percent increase.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 123.33 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 31.28 percent of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 21.90 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 86.36 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 32.04 million or 52.40 percent 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. KD 8.38 million representing 13.71 percent of the total market trading value. — Prepared by the Studies & Research Department, Bayan Investment Co.