Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week with mixed performance. The Price Index closed at 5,770.78 points, down by 0.08% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index increased by 0.57% after closing at 390.58 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 929.77 points up by 0.59%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 6.42%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 12.48 million, whereas trading volume average was 151.02 million shares, recording a loss of 3.27%.
The stock market indicators closed mixed by the end of the week, as the Weighted Index and KSX-15 Index were able to realize gains supported by the random purchasing operations that included some leading and heavy stocks, while the Price Index went against the current and ended the week with limited losses as a result to the selling operations and the profit collection operations executed on some small-cap stocks.
Moreover, the market witnessed in the first session of the week a positive performance which enabled it to realize limited increase for the three indices, as a result to the active speculative operations that concentrated on the small-cap stocks, among a relative stability to the leading stocks; and despite the limited speculated performance of the market throughout the session, in a downward direction, the end of session trading activity came to push the three indices to close in the green zone. Also, the market indicators were able to end Monday’s session with some gains as a result to the collection operations that included some large-cap and small-cap stocks, in light of a very limited increase in the traded liquidity.
On the mid-week session, the market witnessed a mixed closing to the three indices, whereas the Price Index continued its increase in light of the quick speculations and the random purchasing operations that concentrated on the light weighted stocks, whilst the profit collection operations executed on some leading and heavy stocks pushed the Weighted and KSX-15 indices to end the session in the red zone. Furthermore, the market indicators witnessed variance in its closings on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s sessions also, however with changing positions, as the Price Index declined in both sessions affected by the profit collection operations executed on the stocks of previous gains, which caused it to lose all its gains realized since the beginning of the week, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to change its direction positively, supported by the purchasing operations executed on the heavy stocks, which enabled it to compensate its losses and end the week in the green zone.
The market cap for Kuwait Stock Exchange reached by the end of last week to K.D. 25.90 billion, increasing by 0.53% compared to its level in a week earlier, which was K.D. 25.76 billion. On the annual level, the market cap for the listed companies in the market recorded decline of 7.45% from its value at end of year 2014, where it was K.D. 27.98 billion.
As far as KSE annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 11.70% annual loss compared to its closing in 2014, while the Weighted Index decreased by 11.01%, and the KSX-15 contracted by 12.28%.
Sectors’ Indices
Six of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, and six recorded declines. Last week’s highest gainer was the Telecommunications sector, achieving 2.38% growth rate as its index closed at 576.93 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Oil & Gas sector’s index closed at 790.36 points recording 1.09% increase. The Financial Services sector came in third as its index achieved 0.67% growth, ending the week at 654.03 points.
On the other hand, the Technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.33% to end the week’s activity at 849.18 points. The Consumer Services sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 0.64%, closing at 987.36 points, followed by the Real Estate sector, as its index closed at 963.17 points at a loss of 0.56%. The Consumer Goods sector was the least declined during last week, as its index recorded a weekly loss of 0.20%, closing at 1,098.22 point.
Sectors’ Activity
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 238.59 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 31.60% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 29.80% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 225.01 million shares.
On the other hand, the Industries sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around K.D 14.87 million or 23.82% of last week’s total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. K.D 12.24 million representing 19.61% of the total market trading value.