Boursa Kuwait stocks close on week on a bearish note

KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,778.18 points, down by 0.44 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.95 percent after closing at 410.49 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 950.04 points down by 0.76 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 19.70 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 10.23 million, whereas trading volume average was 63.90 million shares, recording a decrease of 15.47 percent.

The three Boursa indices returned to meet once again in the red zone, after the positive performance it witnessed during the previous week, which came in light of the selling pressures and the speculative operations that concentrated mainly on the small-cap stocks, especially the idle stocks that played a noticeable role in the fluctuation of the Price Index in particular during most of the daily sessions of the week. Also, the Market was affected by the profit collection operations that included some leading stocks, especially the ones that recorded mixed gains during the past weeks, which negatively reflected on the performance of the Weighted and KSX-15 indices, to decline the most on the weekly level compared to the Price Index.

In addition, last week witnessed a trading activity on 145 stock out of 176 listed stock in the Market, where the prices of 76 stock declined against an increase of 50 stock, while 50 stock remained with no change.

On the other hand, Boursa Kuwait lost during the last week over KD 250 million of its market capitalization compared to the previous week, as it reached by the end of last week around KD 27.29 billion against KD 27.54 billion in a week earlier, down by 0.92 percent. By such, Boursa Kuwait gains contracted to around KD 350 million since the beginning of the year, and with a growth of 1.30 percent compared to its value at end of 2017, where it reached then K.D. 26.94 billion. (Note: The market capitalization for 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, Boursa Kuwait initiated the first session of the week with a drop to all its indices, in light of the selling pressures and the profit collection operations that included a wide range of listed stocks, especially the small-cap ones that were the most affected by the selling trend that was present in the Market, which was reflected on the Price Index’s performance that recorded a loss of 0.59 percent by the end of the session, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices recorded a limited decrease, as it ended the first session of the week with a decline of 0.14 percent and 0.09 percent respectively.

The Market witnessed in the second session of the week a fluctuated performance, where the Price Index was able to realize good gains to compensate a large part of its previous session’s losses, supported by the return of the purchasing operations on some small-cap stocks, especially the ones being traded with prices less than its par value; on the contrary, the Weighted and KSX-15 indices ended the session with limited decrease, affected by the continued selling operations that concentrated on a number of the leading stocks, especially in the Banks and Telecommunication sectors.

On the mid-week session however, the three Market indices returned to meet in the red zone, where it ended the session’s trading with limited losses, affected by the quick speculative operations that included some small-cap stocks, in addition to some selling operations executed on a number of heavy stocks. On Wednesday’s session, the Market witnessed a mixed closing to its three indices, whereas the Price Index was able to record limited gains supported by the speculative trading executed on some small-cap stocks, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices declined in light of the selling operations’ control over many stocks in different sectors, especially the Consumer Services sector. Such drop came in light of a noticeable decline in the trading levels, especially in the cash liquidity, which reached by the end of the session around K.D. 7.58 million, its second lowest level since the beginning of the year. The last session of the week witnessed a selling wave on many listed stocks, which caused all the Market indices to decline with close rates, whereas the Price Index recorded a loss of 0.44 percent, while the Weighted Index declined by 0.39 percent, and the KSX-15 Index lost 0.46 percent.

For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 5.78 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2017, while the Weighted Index increased by 2.26 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 3.84 percent growth.

Sectors’ Indices

Four of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, seven recorded declines, whereas the Health Care sector’s index closed with no change from the week before. Last week’s highest gainer was the Industrial sector, achieving 1.12 percent growth rate as its index closed at 1,897.60 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Oil & Gas sector’s index closed at 974.68 points recording 0.52 percent increase. The Consumer Goods sector came in third as its index achieved 0.35 percent growth, ending the week at 817.58 points.

On the other hand, the Technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.07 percent to end the week’s activity at 525.64 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.45 percent, closing at 529.30 points, followed by the Financial Services sector, as its index closed at 617.27 points at a loss of 1.38 percent.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 106.10 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 33.21 percent of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 26 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 83.06 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 24.64 million or 48.18 percent of last week’s total market trading value. The Industrial sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. KD 9.66 million representing 18.88 percent of the total market trading value.