Kuwait Stock Exchange’s Weekly Activity, 22-Sep-2016
Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week with mixed performance. The Price Index closed at 5,405.80 points, down by 0.43% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index increased by 0.11 % after closing at 351.05 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 812.38 points down by 0.39%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 3.01%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 5.21 million, whereas trading volume average was 54.42 million shares, recording an increase of 13.46%.
The three stock market indicators closed mixed amid a fluctuated performance in light of the continued control of the speculative behavior over the trading activity in the market, which is mainly concentrated on the small-cap stocks. Also, the market was subject to the quick profit collection operations that were present during most of the week’s sessions, and included many leading and small-cap stocks. On the other hand, the market is currently witnessing a state of cautious in dealing, due to the investors’ watch for the listed companies results for the 9 months 2016 period.
As per the daily activity, the market initiated the first session of the week with a decline to all its indices, especially the Weighted and KSX-15, as a result of the strong selling pressures that some leading stocks were subject to in the Banks sector, after the gains it realized in the previous week. Also, the small-cap stocks witnessed profit collection operations that pushed the Price Index to end the session in the red zone.
On Monday’s session, the market was able to realize a grouped gain for the three indices, where the Price and Weighted indices were able to compensate its previous losses, however the KSX-15 Index was able to compensate a large sum of such losses. The market witnessed such performance supported by the speculative activity that concentrated on the light weight stocks, in addition to the random purchasing operations that included some leading stocks. In addition, the market did not last long before it returned on Tuesday’s session to the red zone, whereas the three indices declined, especially the Price Index which dropped as a result to the selling pressures that included many stocks, especially the ones traded below its par value.
On Wednesday’s session, the market witnessed a mixed closing for the three indices, where the Price and Weighted indices continued recording losses affected by the profit collection operations and the selling pressures that concentrated on the small-cap stocks, while the KSX-15 Index was able to realize limited growth by the end of the session supported by the random purchasing operations that included some leading stocks. Furthermore, the market witnessed in the end of week session a mixed closing to the three indices, as the Price and Weighted indices witnessed a limited increase by the end of the session, supported by the speculative trading on some small and mid-cap stocks, while the KSX-15 Index declined under the pressure of the profit collection operations executed on some heavy stocks.
By the end of the last week, the market capitalization reached K.D. 23.58 billion, up by 0.11% compared to its level in a week earlier, where it reached then K.D. 23.55 billion. On an annual level, the decline of market cap for the listed companies in KSE contracted by 6.69% from its value at end of 2015, where it reached then K.D. 25.27 billion.
As far as KSE annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 3.73% annual loss compared to its closing in 2015, while the weighted index decreased by 8.03%, and the KSX-15 recorded 9.78% loss.
Sectors’ Indices
Nine of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other three recorded increases. The Basic Materials sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.32% to end the week’s activity at 911.09 points. The Consumer Services sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.81%, closing at 897.66 points, followed by the Insurance sector, as its index closed at 987.40 points at a loss of 1.08%. The Banks sector was the least declining as its index closed at 791.04 points with a 0.21% decrease.
On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 2.90% growth rate as its index closed at 970.38 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Health Care sector’s index closed at 1,077.97 points recording 2.04% increase. Followed by Telecommunications sector‘s index closed at 591.82 points recording 1.15% increase.
Sectors’ Activity
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 119.71 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 43.99% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 31.02% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 84.41 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 K.D 6.03 million or 23.15% of last week’s total market trading value. The Banks sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. K.D 5.90 million representing 22.63% of the total market trading value.