Boursa Kuwait remains bullish in January

BAYAN MONTHLY REPORT ON BOURSA KUWAIT

KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended January in the green zone. The Price Index closed at 6,832.22 points, up by 18.86 percent compared to the closing of the month before, the Weighted Index increased by 12.44 percent after closing at 427.38 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 985.40 points increasing by 11.34 percent. Furthermore, last month’s average turnover increased by 235.16 percent, compared to the preceding month, reaching KD 53.88 million, whereas trading volume average was 629.89 million shares, recording an increase of 250.53 percent.

The Boursa indices outperformed to break many records last month and was able to realize noticeable gains, considered the largest in a while, as the Price Index reached in one session of the month its highest level since November 2014, and was able to break the 6,000 point level up for the first time in about 17 months, to end the month’s trading at 6,832.22 point. Also, the Weighted Index increased and recorded its highest level since May 2015, as it ended the month’s trading at 427.38 point, while the KSX-15 Index reached its highest level since August 2015, ending last month’s trading activity at 985.40 points.

In addition, the traded cash liquidity reached its highest level since around mid of 2013, whereas it recorded on 23 January more than KD 97 million, and the traded volume reached about 1.04 billion share in the same session, its highest level since 2013 as well. The Boursa realized its gains in light of the purchasing trend that included most of the listed stocks, especially the stocks of the companies that expected to disclose profits for the year end 31 December 2016, in addition to the quick speculative operations executed on some stocks and caused it to increase and reach good levels. The continued quick speculation that concentrated on the smallcap stocks contributed also in enhancing the Boursa’s gains during the last month, especially the stocks being traded at prices below its book and par values. On the contrary, the Boursa witnessed during some last sessions of the month partial profit collection operations that forced its indices to decline and record losses, however it could not drag it to the red zone on a monthly level.

Moreover, the Boursa was able to add about K.D. 3.09 billion to its market capitalization during the last month because of such performance, as the total listed stocks value reached by the end of the first month KD 28.49 billion against KD 25.41 billion at end of the last month of the previous year, up by 12.15 percent.

The traders in the Boursa are watching for the listed companies’ results for the year end 31 December 2016, expected to be disclosed during the coming period, where many investors are waiting for such results to define their investment objectives for the current year.

Sectors’ Indices

All of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the green zone except for one sector. Last week’s highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 47.08 percent growth rate as its index closed at 893.02 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Financial Services sector’s index closed at 794.82 points recording 33.12 percent increase. The Real Estate sector came in third as its index achieved 27.19 percent growth, ending the week at 1,106.82 points. The Consumer Goods sector was the least growing as its index closed at 1,157.14 points with a 2.85 percent increase. On the other hand, the Health Care sector was last week’s only loser as its index declined by 4.62 percent to end the week’s activity at 1,186.94 points.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated total trade volume during last month with 5.55 billion shares changing hands, representing 40.04 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 32.50 percent of last month’s total trading volume, with a total of 4.50 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 339.50 million or 28.64 percent of last month’s total market trading value. The Real Estate sector took the second place as the sector’s last month turnover of KD 238.93 million representing 20.16 percent of the total market trading value.