KSE indices chalk weekly gains to end in green
Trading volume averages 737.33 mln shares, up 31.09%
Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the green zone. The price index ended last week with an increase amounted to 2.35 percent, and the weighted index advanced by 1.09 percent compared to the closings of the week before. In addition KSX-15 index increased by 1.02 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 0.03 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 54.61 million, whereas trading volume average was 737.33 million shares, recording increase of 31.09 percent.
Kuwait Stock Exchange ended last week’s trading with variant gains to its three indices, in light of the purchasing power and speculations which included many of the listed stocks in different sectors, both large-cap and small-cap stocks, especially in Banking and Real Estate and Financial Services sectors. As a result, the market general index was able to get very close to break the 7,000 point psychological level, and reach its highest close level in more than two years, specifically since January 2011.
This market performance came due to the optimistic state that traders are living after the first quarter financial results announced by the listed companies, and especially after the positive performance the market is witnessing since the beginning of the year.
On the other hand, the market witnessed partial profit-taking operations, led to fluctuating performance in many cases, and negatively reflected on the performance of its three indicators, mostly the Weighted and KSX-15 indices, where they declined in some daily sessions following such operations, however the purchasing operations activity eventually led all the market indices to close in the green zone by the end of the week.
For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 17.58 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2012, while the weighted index increased by 5.99 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 4.41 percent increase.
By the end of the week, the price index closed at 6,977.73 points, up by 2.35 percent from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 1.09 percent weekly gain after closing at 442.66 points. Moreover, the KSX-15 index closed at 1,053.61 points, increasing with 1.02 percent.
Sectors’ Indices
Ten of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other two recorded declines. Last week’s highest gainer was the Real Estate sector, achiev- ing 5.64 percent growth rate as its index closed at 1,228.11 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Financial Services sector’s index closed at 1,021.24 points recording 2.84 percent increase. The Telecommunications sector came in third place as its index achieved 2.20 percent growth, ending the week at 907.08 points. The Consumer Services sector was the least growing as its index closed at 1,015.86 points with a 0.09 percent increase.
On the other hand, the Oil & Gas sec- tor headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.44 percent to end the week’s activity at 1,190.82 points. The Technology sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 0.50 percent, closing at 1,022.92 points. Sectors’ Activity The Real Estate sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 1.40 billion shares changing hands, representing 37.91 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 35.19 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of 1.30 billion shares.
On the other hand, the Financial Services sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 84.61 million or 30.99 percent of last week’s total market trading value. The Real Estate sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover of KD 78.09 million represented 28.60 percent of the total market trading value.