Boursa Kuwait equities mixed amid random buying trends

Traders look for clues from annual financial results

KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended last week with mixed performance. The Price Index closed at 6,651.91 points, up by 0.19 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.16 percent after closing at 418.45 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 965.55 points down by 0.12 percent. Furthermore, the week’s average daily turnover decreased by 12.88 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 13.66 million, whereas trading volume average was 118.79 million shares, recording a decrease of 13.74 percent.

The market indices’ weekly closings fluctuated for the first time in this year, as the market witnessed a continued random purchasing operations on the small-cap stocks, in addition to the quick speculations that concentrated on the stocks of low price values, which was positively reflected on the Price Index performance to end the week’s trading with some gains; on the contrary, the selling pressures and the profit collection operations executed on some leading stocks, pushed the Weighted and KSX-15 indices to end the week’s trading in the red zone, after the good performance it witnessed since the beginning of the new year. The market witnessed such performance in light of the continued watch of the traders for the listed companies’ annual financial results, especially that such results will define to a great extent the investment goals of many investors for the next period.

In addition, the Boursa recorded market losses of KD 32.93 million during the last week, as its market capitalization reached by the end of the week KD 28.05 billion, down by 0.12 percent of its level at the previous week, where it was KD 28.09 billion. Also, the market gains since the beginning of 2018 contracted to reach KD 1.11 billion, with a growth of 4.14 percent compared to its value at the last trading day of the last year. (Note: The market cap for the listed companies is calculated based on the average number of outstanding shares as per the latest official available financial statements).

Moreover, the Boursa Kuwait initiated its first session of the last week with a decline included all its indices, especially the weighted ones, which were affected by the profit collection operations witnessed during the session and concentrated on the leading stocks, especially after the good increases it witnessed in the previous session. Also, the Price Index decreased affected by the selling pressures that the small-cap stocks were subject to, especially the ones that have been traded on with prices less than its par value. On the next session, the Boursa was able to return to the green zone, after its three indices ended the session with different increases, supported by the return of the purchasing and collection operations executed on the leading stocks in particular, which was apparent on the performance of the Weighted and KSX-15 indices and enabled it to compensate all its losses recorded in the previous session, while the Price Index was able to record limited gains supported by the random purchasing operations executed on a number of small-cap stocks, to compensate a part of its losses recorded earlier in the beginning of week session.

The mid-week session witnessed mixed closings for the three indices, as the Price Index continued its upward direction affected by the speculative performance of the small-cap stocks, while the quick return of the profit collection operations on the leading stocks pushed the Weighted and KSX-15 indices to close in the red zone, which came in light of the dropped trading levels of both the volume and the cash liquidity, where the volume decreased by 12.42 percent and the value dropped by 11.24 percent.

The market did not witness on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s sessions much of a change compared to Tuesday’s session, as the market indices continued its fluctuations amid a change of traders’ behavior, where the Weighted and KSX15 indices continued to decline in light of the continued profit collection operations in controlling the leading stocks’ trading, which pushed it to end the week in the red zone, while the Price Index was able to continue its growth as a result to the purchasing and speculating operations on some small-cap stocks, which enabled it to compensate all its losses and pushed it to end the week’s trading in the green zone. For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 3.81 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2017, while the Weighted Index increased by 4.24 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 5.54 percent growth.

Sector’s Indices

Six of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other six recorded declines. Last week’s highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 1.63 percent growth rate as its index closed at 488.33 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Real Estate sector’s index closed at 1,010.98 points recording 1.31 percent increase. The Consumer Services sector came in third as its index achieved 0.57 percent growth, ending the week at 936.49 points.

On the other hand, the Health Care sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.93 percent to end the week’s activity at 1,451.15 points. The Basic Materials sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.80 percent, closing at 1,288.72 points, followed by the Insurance sector, as its index closed at 1,022.36 points at a loss of 0.93 percent.

Sectors’ Activity

The Real Estate sector dominated a total trade volume of around 177.77 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 29.93 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 24.26 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 144.08 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 26.93 million or 39.42 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 11.13 million representing 16.30 percent of the total market trading value.