Bourse ends trading with mixed performance

Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week with mixed performance The Price Index closed at 6,377.00 points, up by 0.72 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.20 percent after closing at 435.05 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 1,059.73 points up by 0.23 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 18.21 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 20.08 million, whereas trading volume average was 307.99 million shares, recording an decrease of 5.01 percent.

As for the Kuwait Stock Exchange’s performance during the last week; the first session witnessed fluctuation for the three indices, whereas the Price Index was able to end the session in the green zone, benefiting from the purchasing power and the speculations that concentrated on the small-cap stocks, whilst the Weighted and KSX15 indices declined as a result to the profit collection operations that were executed on some large-cap and operational stocks. On the next session, the market was able to realize slight growth for the three indices, in light of a stable and calm performance throughout all the session, among a limited increase in the trading activity.

On Tuesday’s session, the fluctuation returned to control the trading activity once again, among a noticeable decline in the liquidity, whereas the Price Index continued recording gains in light of the continued speculations, whilst the profit collection operations that concentrated on the blue-chip stocks contributed to returning the Weighted and KSX-15 indices to the red zone. On Wednesday’s session, the market was able to realize gains for the three indices, in light of the purchasing trend that included a wide range of the large-cap and small-cap stocks, among an increased liquidity, which witnessed increase by around 16 percent. However, on the end of week session, the stock market witnessed a noticeable growth in the three indices, supported by the purchasing operations that included many listed stocks, especially the large-cap ones, which posi- tively affected the KSX-15 index performance in particular, to record the highest gains by the end of the session.

On the other hand, the stock market is currently witnessing a general state of watch and cautious, waiting for the listed companies’ disclosures for its first quarter results, among fears of some companies’ inability to disclose before the end of the legal period which will end by mid of current May.

Moreover, the market cap reached KD 28.64 billion by the end of last week, increasing by 2.59 percent compared to its level to the preceding week, where it reached KD 27.92 billion. For the annual performance; the market cap of the listed companies increased by 2.37 percent from its value at 2014 year end, where it was KD 27.98 billion.

As for as KSE annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 2.43 percent annual loss compared to its closing in 2014, while the weighted index decreased by 0.87 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 0.02 percent loss.

Sectors’ Indices

Five of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other seven recorded declines. Last week’s highest gainer was the Financial Services sector, achieving 1.87 percent growth rate as its index closed at 788.48 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Industrial sector’s index closed at 1,130.95 points recording 1.37 percent increase. The Real Estate sector came in third as its index achieved 1.25 percent growth, ending the week at 1,061.75 points.

On the other hand, the Health Care sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.58 percent to end the week’s activity at 846.72 points. The Basic Materials sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.15 percent, closing at 1,094.50 points, followed by the Oil & Gas sector, as its index closed at 1,041.70 points at a loss of 2.02 percent.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 619.64 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 40.24 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 30.66 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 472.12 million shares.

On the other hand, the Financial Services sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around KD 35.87 million or 35.74 percent of last week’s total market trading value. The Real Estate sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. KD 21.42 million representing 21.34 percent of the total market trading value.

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