Boursa Kuwait stocks remain resilient

BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the green zone. The Price Index closed at 6,852.30 points, up by 6.47 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index increased by 4.95 percent after closing at 428.43 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 987.70 points up by 4.54 percent. Furthermore, the week’s average daily turnover increased by 22.57 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 77.87 million, whereas trading volume average was 873.61 million shares, recording an increase of 14.95 percent.

The Boursa continued its positive performance that started the year with, supported by the increased confidence levels of the traders in light of the continued presence of many positive indicators headed by the noticeable growth in the liquidity levels, which are expected to increase even more in the coming period in parallel with the listed companies’ disclosures of its financial results for the period ended on 31 December 2016. The Boursa realized such gains despite the presence of the profit collection operations during some daily sessions of the week, where the red color appeared on the Boursa indices more than once during few sessions, however the market overcame such operations and was able to end the weekly trading in the green zone. In addition, the market capitalization reached by the end of the week KD 28.57 billion, up by 5.01 percent compared to its level in a week earlier, where it reached KD 27.20 billion.

Moreover, the Boursa Kuwait initiated its first sessions of the week with noticeable growth to the three indices, especially the Price Index, which continued its spectacular performance to end the session with gains reached to more than 3 percent, amid a large purchasing trend on many leading and small-cap stocks altogether. Such performance came in light of the continued growth in the trading levels, especially the value that reached KD 94 million by the end of the session, recording a growth of around 50 percent compared to the previous session. The three Boursa indices continued its increase in the next session, amid an increase in the trading value which reached KD 97 million, its highest level since around mid of 2013, as such came in light of the continued purchasing trend of the market during this period, in addition to the quick speculative operations executed by some speculators on a number of smallcap stocks being traded below its book value.

On the mid-week session, and after a fluctuated performance between up and down, and despite the decline in the trading levels during the session for both the volume and the value, the Boursa was able at the end to realize different gains for the three indices, especially the Price Index that broke the 6,700 point level up during the session, supported by the positive trading activity on some investment groups, in addition to the speculative operations executed on a number of small-cap stocks. On Wednesday’s session, the Boursa continued its gains for the three indices supported by the continued purchasing trend on many listed stocks, especially the ones valued below 100 fils. Such performance came despite the partial profit collection operations that were present during the session, and limited the three indices’ gains. The Boursa Kuwait witnessed in the last session of the week a mixed performance, whereas the Price Index continued its upward direction supported by the continued speculative operations on the small-cap stocks, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices closed in the red zone affected by the profit collection operations that targeted some leading stocks of which increased in the previous period, to lighten by this its weekly gains.

Sectors’ Indices

All of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone. Last week’s highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 19.26 percent growth rate as its index closed at 907.87 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Real Estate sector’s index closed at 1,124.90 points recording 8.96 percent increase. The Banks sector came in third as its index achieved 8.42 percent growth, ending the week at 995.70 points. The Telecommunications sector was the least growing as its index closed at 721.17 points with a 2.34 percent increase.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 1.68 billion shares changing hands during last week, representing 38.48 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 32.90 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 1.44 billion shares.

On the other hand, the Financial Services sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around KD 109.89 million or 28.23 percent 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 79.91 million representing 20.52 percent of the total market trading value. —Prepared by the Studies & Research Department, Bayan Investment Co.