Boursa Kuwait stocks remained buoyant amid positive results

Price index records 1.27% monthly increase

KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended February in the green zone. The Price Index closed at 6,772.83 points, up by 1.27 percent compared to the closings of the month before, the Weighted Index increased by 0.49 percent after closing at 413.98 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 958.03 points increasing by 1.83 percent. Furthermore, last month’s average turnover decreased by 21.56 percent, compared to the preceding month, reaching KD 11.51 million, whereas trading volume average was 73.12 million shares, recording a decrease of 38.45 percent.

Boursa Kuwait continued its positive performance and its three indices were able to realize gains for the third consecutive month, supported by the concentration of the purchasing operations, which were present during most of the month’s sessions, on many listed operational stocks, whether it disclosed good results and distributions, or it is expected to disclose positive results for the financial year 2017, in addition to the quick speculative operations that included a wide range of small-cap stocks, especially the idle stocks of market value less than its book value.

Also, the Boursa gained during the last month around KD 223.92, as its market capitalization reached by the end of the month KD 27.51 billion, compared to KD 27.29 billion on January, up by 0.82 percent. The market cap gains since the beginning of the year increased to reach around KD 573.24 million, with a growth of 2.13 percent compared to its value on the last trading day of the previous year, where it was then KD 26.94 billion. (Note: The market capitalization 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 statements).

Moreover, the market performance was fluctuating during the last month with an upward trend, where the three indices witnessed during the first week of the month a noticeable decline due to the profit collection operations that targeted a number of many stocks that recorded increases during the month of January, which caused the three indices to drop, while the market was able to compensate its losses thereafter and its three indices were able to divert upward,

Boursa Kuwait capitalization reaches KD 27.51bn

supported by the return of the purchasing operations in targeting the leading stocks once again, especially after the disclosure of some companies of its financial results and annual distributions for 2017, as most of it came in the positive zone.

Sectors’ Indices Nine of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last month in the red zone, while the other three recorded increases. The Health Care sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 10.26 percent to end the month’s activity at 1,391.79 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 4.05 percent, closing at 552.63 points, followed by the Financial Services sector, as its index closed at 621.77 points at a loss of 3.56 percent. The Insurance sector was the least declining as its index closed at 1,033.23 points with a 0.05 percent decrease.

On the other hand, last month’s highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 16.41 percent growth rate as its index closed at 542.28 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Real Estate sector’s index closed at 1,189.99 points recording 11.94 percent increase. The Basic Materials sector was the least growing as its index closed at 1,314.37 points with a 0.87 percent increase.

Sectors’ Activity

The Banks sector dominated a total trade volume during the last month of 461.05 million shares changing hands, representing 35.03 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 23.55 percent of last month’s total trading volume, with a total of 309.97 million shares

On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 112.36 million or 54.21 percent of last month’s total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector’s last month turnover of KD 25.57 million representing 12.34 percent of the total market trading value.