Boursa Kuwait trading remains mixed
BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT
Boursa Kuwait ended last week with mixed performance. The Price Index closed at 5,409.336 points, up by 0.21 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.66 percent after closing at 355.51 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 830.97 points down by 1.21 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 10.74 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 19.55 million, whereas trading volume average was 98.97 million shares, recording a decrease of 19.28 percent.
The Bourse indices closed mixed amid a weak and fluctuated performance, as the Weighted and KSX-15 indices closed in the red zone affected by the decline in the purchasing activity on the leading and operational stocks, while the Price Index was able to realize limited increase by the end of the week supported by the speculative operations that concentrated on the small-cap stocks.
The Bourse was subject to a trend of selling for profit during most of the week’s sessions concentrated on the leading stocks of heavy weight in the market, especially that were able to realize good gains in the previous week, headed by the Telecommunication and Oil & Gas sectors. Such performance came in light of the continued watch by the dealers for the listed companies disclosures for the 9 months of the current year, where many investors will define their investment priorities based on. As per the daily activity; the Boursa Kuwait initiated its first sessions of the week with a grouped decline included the three indices, in parallel with the noticeable decrease in the trading activity by the end of the session, where the value recorded a drop of around 30 percent, while the volume decreased by around 43 percent compared to the previous session. Also, the Bourse was able in the second session to return to the green zone in light of a strong purchasing trend that included a wide range of listed stocks, which caused the liquidity levels to increase compared to the beginning of week session, where the volume recorded a growth of 87 percent, and the value increased by 51 percent. The Bourse continued realizing gains for the three indices by the mid-week session, supported by the random purchasing operations that included many leading and small-cap stocks, amid of a noticeable decline in the value which reached KD 8.59 million, down by 40 percent.
On Wednesday’s session, the Bourse witnessed mixed closing for the three indices, whereas the Price Index dropped by only 0.07 percent, while the Weighted and KSX15 indices were able to realize good gains reached 0.49 percent and 0.75 percent respectively. The Bourse also witnessed at the end of week session a mixed performance for the three indices with changing positions, where the Price Index was able to compensate its previous loss to close the session with some gains supported by the purchasing and quick speculative operations that included some small-cap stocks, which pushed it to end the weekly trading in the green zone; while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices ended the session in the red zone, to increase its weekly losses.
By the end of the last week, the market capitalization for the listed companies in the official market reached KD 23.86 billion, down by 0.64 percent compared to its level in a week earlier, where it reached then KD 24.01 billion. On an annual level, the decline in the market cap for the listed companies in the official market increased by 5.57 percent from its value at end of 2015, where it reached then KD 25.27 billion. As far as Boursa Kuwait annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 3.66 percent annual loss compared to its closing in 2015, while the weighted index decreased by 6.86 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 7.71 percent loss.
Seven of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while other four recorded declines, whereas the Technology sector’s index closed with no change from the week before. Last week’s highest gainer was the Health Care sector, achieving 1.46 percent growth rate as its index closed at 1,070.60 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Banks sector’s index closed at 807.81 points recording 1.19 percent increase. The Real Estate sector came in third as its index achieved 0.87 percent growth, ending the week at 805.67 points.
On the other hand, the Oil & Gas sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.00 percent to end the week’s activity at 747.30 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.50 percent, closing at 580.32 points, followed by the Insurance sector, as its index closed at 944.63 points at a loss of 0.97 percent.
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 166.84 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 33.71 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 30.30 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 149.94 million shares.