Boursa Kuwait stocks edge lower amid selling pressure

Three indices suffer losses on profit-booking

KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,623.49 points, down by 0.14 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.56 percent after closing at 429.09 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 998.18 points down by 0.67 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 18.86 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 11.41 million, whereas trading volume average was 66.52 million shares, recording a decrease of 15.66 percent.

The Boursa continued its negative performance for the second consecutive week, and ended the last week’s trading with different losses to its three indices, in light of the selling pressures and the profit collection operations that included many listed stocks headed by the leading ones. Such performance came amid a noticeable decrease in the trading levels, especially the cash liquidity that decreased rapidly and reached in one session of the week its lowest level in approximately four months. By the end of the week, the daily average for the trading value witnessed a drop by 18.86 percent to reach around KD 11.41 million, while the average trading volume declined by 15.66 percent to reach around KD 66.52 million.

In addition, Boursa Kuwait lost during the last week around KD 160 million of its market capitalization, as it reached by the end of the week KD 28.66 million, down by 0.55 percent from its level in a week earlier, where it was KD 28.82 billion. Also, the market cap gains since the beginning of the current year contracted to reach 12.82 percent compared to its value at end of 2016, where it reached then KD 25.41 billion. (Note: The market cap of the listed companies in the primary market is calculated based on the average number of outstanding shares as per the latest available official financial data).

As far as the daily trading activity, the Boursa Kuwait initiated the first trading session of last week with mixed closing to its three indices, whereas the Price Index recorded a limited growth as a result to the random purchasing operations executed on some small-cap stocks, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices could not elevate by the end of the session in light of the profit collection operations that targeted some leading and operational stocks especially in the Consumer Goods sector. The second session witnessed a drop in all the market indicators affected by the losses recorded by many listed stocks of both leading and small-cap ones, which came despite the noticeable increase in the trading activity by the end of the session, where the value grew by 55.99 percent and the volume increased by 8.16 percent.

The Boursa continued recording grouped losses for its three indices in the mid-week session, where the Price Index continued its downward slope as a result to the selling operations that targeted a number of smallcap stocks, while the selling operations on the leading stocks continued in pushing the market weighted indicators to the red zone for the third consecutive session. On Wednesday’s session, the market returned to fluctuate once again, whereas the Price Index was able to realize gains supported by the return of the purchasing operations on some small-cap stocks, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices remained in the red zone with continuing control of the selling trend over the leading stocks’ performance. Moreover, the Boursa was able on Thursday’s session to break the declines series and its three indices were able to return to the green zone, supported by the return of the active speculations that concentrated on a number of small-cap stocks, in addition to the collection operations witnessed by some leading stocks.

For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 15.23 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 12.89 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 12.79 percent growth.

Sectors’ indices

Six of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, five recorded increases, whereas the Health Care sector’s index closed with no change from the previous week. The Consumer Goods sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.78 percent to end the week’s activity at 978.36 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.80 percent, closing at 585.39 points, followed by the Banks sector, as its index closed at 952.72 points at a loss of 0.95 percent. The Oil & Gas sector was the least declining as its index closed at 1,031.60 points with a 0.31 percent decrease.

On the other hand, the highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 4.16 percent growth rate as its index closed at 563.59 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Industrial sector’s index closed at 1,798.73 points recording 1.03 percent increase. The Consumer Services sector came in third as its index achieved 0.93 percent growth, ending the week at 932.42 points. The Basic Materials sector was the least growing as its index closed at 1,289.13 points with a 0.12 percent increase.

Sectors’ activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 114.51 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 34.43 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 28.61 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 95.15 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 17.04 million or 29.85 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 12.91 million representing 22.62 percent of the total market trading value. —Prepared by Studies & Research Department - Bayan Investment Co.