Boursa Kuwait equities end trading on a bearish note

Average daily turnover increases by 36.08% last week

KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,548.42 points, down by 1.13 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 2.36 percent after closing at 418.96 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 965.36 points down by 3.29 percent. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 36.08 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 15.53 million, whereas trading volume average was 80.35 million shares, recording an increase of 20.79 percent.

In addition, Boursa Kuwait lost during the last week around KD 650 million of its market capitalization, as it reached by the end of the week KD 28.01 billion, down by 2.27 percent from its level in a week earlier, where it was KD 28.66 billion. Also, the market cap gains since the beginning of the current year contracted to reach 10.26 percent compared to its value at end of 2016, where it reached then KD 25.41 billion. (Note: The market cap of the listed companies in the primary market is calculated based on the average number of outstanding shares as per the latest available official financial data).

The red color continued to prevail over the market indicators for the second consecutive week, as it continued recording grouped losses amid a continuation of the selling trend in controlling the trading activity in light of the absence of positive motivators that contribute in supporting the traders’ spirits and push them to buy. The selling pressures witnessed by the market during most of the last week’s sessions concentrated on the leading stocks in particular, which appeared clearly from the performance of the Weighted and KSX-15 indices, as it ended all the week’s sessions in the red zone, which increased its weekly losses, whereas the losses of KSX-15 Index reached by the end of the week 3.29 percent, while the decline in the Weighted Index reached 2.36 percent, and the Price Index ended the week’s trading down by 1.13 percent.In addition, the green color was not absent from the market indices during the last week, as some daily sessions witnessed random purchasing operations and quick speculations executed on some smallcap stocks, which pushed the Price Index to record some daily gains that lightened, to a certain extent, its weekly loss.

As per the daily trading activity, Boursa Kuwait initiated the first trading session of the week with a drop in all its indicators, especially the weighted ones that were negatively affected by the continuous selling operations on the leading and heavy stocks, especially in the Telecommunication sector, the most declining sector by the end of the session. The Boursa continued recording losses for its three indices on the second session, however at stronger pace, as a result to the increased selling pressures on the leading stocks accompanied by the decrease in the number of small-cap stocks too, which caused all the market sectors to drop, except for two sectors where no activity was recorded on its stocks.

On the mid-week session, the Boursa witnessed an increased selling pressures on many leading and small-cap stocks together, and its three indices continued its negative performance and declines to low levels, especially the Price Index that ended the session at its lowest level since last January.

Moreover, Wednesday and Thursday’s sessions witnessed the appearance of the green color for the first time, however fluctuation was mastering, whereas the Price Index was able to detour to the green zone and end the two sessions with some gains, supported by the random purchasing operations that included some small-cap stocks, which relatively contracted its weekly losses; while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices could not redirect its path and continued recording losses amid the continued selling operations that targeted the leading stocks.

For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 13.92 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 10.23 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 9.08 percent growth.

Cap gains contract significantly

Sectors’ indices

All of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the red zone except the Health Care sector’s index which closed with no change from the previous week. The Oil & Gas sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.72 percent to end the week’s activity at 993.20 points. The Insurance sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 3.64 percent, closing at 1,070.77 points, followed by the Banks sector, as its index closed at 930.76 points at a loss of 2.30 percent. The Consumer Goods sector was the least declining as its index closed at 976.07 points with a 0.23 percent decrease.

Sectors’ activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 138.38 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 34.45 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 23.09 percent of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 92.74 million shares. On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around K.D 25.47 million or 32.80 percent of last week’s total market trading value. The Telecommunications sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. KD 22 million representing 28.33 percent of the total market trading value. — Prepared by Studies & Research Department - Bayan Investment Co.