Boursa Kuwait ended last week with mixed zone. The Price Index closed at 6,810.68 points, up by 0.40% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.11% after closing at 399.79 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 901.27 points declining by 0.61%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 13.58%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 5.97 million, whereas trading volume average was 30.43 million shares, recording a drop of 18.19%.
Boursa Kuwait ended last week’s trading with mixed closing for the three indices, whereas the Price Index was able to increase, supported by the active purchasing operations and the quick speculations concentrated on the small-cap and idle stocks, especially the ones valued less than its book and par values, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices ended the week’s trading in the red zone, affected by the continued selling and profit collection operations that targeted the leading and heavy stocks. Also, the Boursa witnessed such performance in parallel with the noticeable decline in the trading activity, as the total cash liquidity dropped during the five sessions to reach K.D. 29.84 million only, while the volume decreased during the week to reach 152.15 million share.
Moreover, Boursa Kuwait lost around K.D. 27 million during the last five sessions, whereas the market capitalization reached by the end of the last week K.D. 26.57 billion, down by 0.10% compared to its level in a week earlier, where it was K.D. 26.60 billion. On an annual level, the market cap for the listed companies in the market recorded growth of 4.59% from its value at end of 2016, where it reached then K.D. 25.41 billion.
As per the daily trading activity, the Boursa initiated the first session of the week with a decline to the three indices, affected by the strong selling pressures that included many stocks headed by the leading ones, in addition to the speculative operations that concentrated on the small-cap stocks, plus the refrain from trading state that the market has been witnessing during this period and had a negative impact on its performance. Also, despite the losses that the three indices recorded, its value witnessed an increase by the end of the session, whereas it reached K.D. 5.79 million, against K.D. 5.27 million in the previous session.
On Monday’s session, the market was able to realize gain for the three indices, compensating part of its losses recorded in the first session of the week, as the Boursa returned to the green zone supported by the quick speculations and the collection operations that targeted some small-cap stock of previous strong declines, in addition to the random purchasing operations that included some leading and heavy stocks. The Boursa increased despite the decline in the cash liquidity during the session, whereas it dropped to reach K.D. 4.36 million, down by around 25%.
On the mid-week session, the Boursa Kuwait witnessed a mixed closing for the three indices, whereas the Price Index continued its upward direction for the second consecutive session, amid a continued control of the quick speculations over the trading behavior in the market, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices declined by the end of the session, affected by the profit collection operations that were executed on some leading and operational stocks. Also, the market witnessed such variance in light of the continued decline in the value for the second consecutive session, as the cash liquidity dropped by the end of the session to reach K.D. 3.88 million only, its lowest level since the beginning of the current year.
The Boursa was able in the last two sessions of the week to return to the green zone and realize some gains to the three indices, as it received support from the random purchasing operations that included a wide range of leading and small-cap stocks, which positively reflected on the three market indices, especially the Price Index, which was able to compensate its previous losses and end the week’s trading in the green zone, however, the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to compensate a part of its losses, to end the week’s trading with limited losses.
For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 19.49% annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 5.18%, and the KSX-15 recorded 1.84% growth.
Sectors’ Indices
Six of B Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other six recorded increases. The Technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 5.62% to end the week’s activity at 664.45 points. The Basic Materials sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 5.06%, closing at 1,243.35 points, followed by the Health Care sector, as its index closed at 1,451.70 points at a loss of 5.03%. The Real Estate sector was the least declining as its index closed at 947.38 points with a 0.17% decrease.
On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Consumer Services sector, achieving 6.99% growth rate as its index closed at 1,201.17 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Insurance sector’s index closed at 1,082.16 points recording 2.84% increase. The Oil & Gas sector came in third as its index achieved 0.88% growth, ending the week at 1,041.85 points.
Sectors’ Activity
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 54.36 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 35.75% of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 21.31% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 32.40 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 10.75 million or 36.03% of last week’s total market trading value. The Industrial sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. K.D 7.09 million representing 23.76% of the total market trading value.