Boursa Kuwait equities subdued

BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT

Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,767.04 points, down by 0.63 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.61 percent after closing at 424.54 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 970.49 points down by 0.12 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 25.19 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 27.51 million, whereas trading volume average was 260.90 million shares, recording a decrease of 28.47 percent.

As far as the Boursa Kuwait performance over the past week, which had only four sessions; the three indices recorded different losses affected by the continued profit collection operations executed on the listed stocks of leading and small-cap ones, especially the stocks that witnessed large increases as a result to the revival state lived by the Boursa during the few first weeks of the current year. The Boursa witnessed such performance in light of the decreased trading indicators of the value and the volume and executed deals during the week, where the total value dropped by 40.15 percent to reach KD 110.04, and the volume decreased to 1.04 billion stock, down by 42.78 percent.

Boursa Kuwait initiated the first session of the last week with grouped loss to the three indices, affected by the profit collection operations executed on some leading and operational stocks, especially in the Banks sector, in addition to the selling pressures that targeted some small-cap stocks being traded below its book or par values. The market witnessed such performance in light of a declined trading indicators compared to the previous session, where the cash liquidity dropped at the end of the session by around 15 percent, and the volume decreased by approximately 22 percent. On the next session, the three Boursa indices witnessed a fluctuated performance, as the Price Index was able to realize some increase by the end of the session supported by the return of the active speculative operations executed on the small-cap stocks, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices continued recording losses for the second consecutive session due to the continued profit collection operations’ control over the dealing of the leading and heavy stocks. Such variance came amid a slight increase in the trading indicators compared to the previous session, where the value recorded a growth of approximately 1.5 percent, and the volume increased by approximately 13 percent.

Wednesday’s session witnessed a return of the three indices to close in the red zone, where the Price Index returned once again to the losses zone after some smallcap stocks being subject to quick profit collection operations, especially after the gains it realized in the previous session, while the profit collection operations that been targeting the leading and heavy stocks since the beginning of the week, continued on affecting the Weighted and KSX-15 indices, which caused it to decline for the third consecutive session. On the end of week session, the three market indices returned to close in the green zone, as a result to the random purchasing operations that included many listed stocks of both leading and heavy ones; where the market witnesses such performance despite the decline in the trading indicators of both the cash liquidity or the volume of the traded stocks, where the value dropped by approximately 31 percent, while the volume decreased by about 7 percent.

Moreover, Boursa Kuwait lost around K.D. 170 million of its market value during the last week, or 0.60 percent compared to the previous week’s closings, while its gains since the beginning of the year contracted to 11.02 percent, compared to its level at end of 2016, where it was then K.D. 25.41 billion. For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 17.73 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the weighted index increased by 11.69 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 9.66 percent growth.

Sectors’ Indices

Nine of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other three recorded increases. The Insurance sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 5.30 percent to end the week’s activity at 1,105.65 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.52 percent, closing at 645.32 points, followed by the Banks sector, as its index closed at 971.36 points at a loss of 2.32 percent. The Consumer Services sector was the least declining as its index closed at 961.52 points with a 0.35 percent decrease.

On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Oil & Gas sector, achieving 13.80 percent growth rate as its index closed at 1,009.31 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Health Care sector’s index closed at 1,442.13 points recording 8.95 percent increase. The Consumer goods sector came in third as its index achieved 2.74 percent growth, ending the week at 1,194.32 points.

Sectors’ Activity

The Real Estate sector dominated a total trade volume of around 372.97 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 35.74 percent of the total market trading volume. The Financial Services sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 33.78 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 352.49 million shares.