Boursa Kuwait ended last week with mixed performance. The Price Index closed at 6,810.71 points, up by 1.48% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.11% after closing at 422.27 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 957.12 points down by 0.99%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased of 24.42%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 33.39 million, whereas trading volume average was 390.92 million shares, recording an increased by 40.84%.
The three market indices closed mixed in light of the different preferences of the traders, where the market witnessed a noticeable purchasing appetite on the small-cap stocks and quick speculative operations concentrated on the stocks of low price values, which positively reflected on the Price Index performance that ended the week’s trading with good gains; on the contrary, the selling pressures and the profit collection operations executed on some leading stocks, pushed the Weighted and KSX-15 indices to end the week’s trading in the red zone. The market witnessed such performance in light of a continued traders’ watch to the listed companies annual financial results, especially that such results will define to a great extent the upcoming investment objectives for many investors in the market. The Boursa also witnessed such performance in light of an increased trading indicators during the week, where the total value grew from K.D. 134.20 million to K.D. 166.96 million for the last week, while the traded volume reached 1.95 billion stock, up from 1.39 billion stock in a week earlier.
By the end of the last week, the total market capitalization for the listed companies in the official market reached K.D. 28.10 billion, up by 0.21% when compared to its level in a week earlier, where the market cap reached K.D. 28.04 billion. On an annual level, the market cap gains increased since the beginning of the year and reached 10.58%, compared to its level at end of 2016, where it was K.D. 25.41 billion (Note: delisting of Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co. during the last week contributed into decreasing the Boursa market cap by around K.D. 16.64 million, the total market value of the mentioned company).
As per the daily trading activity, the Boursa Kuwait initiated its first sessions of the last week with mixed closing to its three indices, where the Price Index recorded good growth supported by the active speculative operations that targeted some small-cap stocks, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices declined due to the selling pressures that concentrated on the leading and heavy stocks, especially in the Banks sector. On the next session, the three market indices closed with different losses as a result to the profit collection operations executed on many small-cap stocks after the increases it realized in the previous session, in addition to the continued selling operations witnessed by some leading stocks, especially in the Oil & Gas and the Banks sectors.
The mid-week session witnessed a return of the market indices to fluctuate once again, whereas the Price and Weighted indices were able to end the session in the green zone supported by the return of the purchasing traffic and the quick speculation on the small-cap stocks, while the KSX-15 Index went against the current and ended the session in the red zone affected by the continued selling operations on some leading and heavy operational stocks. Such performance came in light of a noticeable growth in the trading activity during the session, especially over the value which increased by 135% compared to the previous session, as it broke the level of K.D. 50 million up, for the first time in about a month. However on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s sessions, the Boursa was able to realize good gains during the two sessions supported by the continued purchasing powers and the speculative operations on the small-cap stocks, in addition to the collection operations that targeted some leading stocks, which positively affected the three market indices, especially the Price Index which enhanced its weekly gains, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to compensate a part of its losses recorded since the beginning of the week.
For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 18.49% annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the weighted index increased by 11.10%, and the KSX-15 recorded 8.15% growth.
Sectors’ Indices
Seven of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other five recorded increases. The Health care sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 6.28% to end the week’s activity at 1,397.62 points. The Consumer Services sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.69%, closing at 928.14 points, followed by the Consumer Goods sector, as its index closed at 1,180.99 points at a loss of 1.34%. The Oil & Gas sector was the least declining as its index closed at 988.50 points with a 0.17% decrease.
On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Financial Services sector, achieving 4.45% growth rate as its index closed at 779.66 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Real Estate sector’s index closed at 1,097.15 points recording 2.70% increase. The Technology sector came in third as its index achieved 1.27% growth, ending the week at 830.09 points.
Sectors’ Activity
The Real Estate sector dominated a total trade volume of around 673.49 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 34.46% of the total market trading volume. The Financial Services sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 33.42% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 653.31 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 44.46 million or 26.63% of last week’s total market trading value. The Real Estate sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. K.D 34.40 million representing 20.60% of the total market trading value.