Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the green zone. The Price Index closed at 6,913.86 points, up by 0.24% from the week before closing, the Weighted Index increased by 1.53% after closing at 441.32 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 1,027.07 points up by 2.78%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 116.60%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 33.55 million, whereas trading volume average was 139.14 million shares, recording an increase of 79.63%.
The three Boursa indices were able to close in the green zone, especially the Weighted and KSX-15 indices which benefited from the strong purchasing trend that included many leading and heavy stocks, and mostly the stocks nominated to join “FTSE Index” for emerging markets, which enhanced the cash liquidity in the market to a great extent, as the daily average for trading value reached around K.D. 33 million, up by 116.6% compared to the previous week’s trading, while the Price Index witnessed during the last week a fluctuated performance with an upward trend as a result to the continued presence of the quick speculative operations that concentrated on the small-cap stocks, in addition to the profit collection operations that the market was witnessing during some of the daily sessions, which relatively lightened the Price Index’s gains on the weekly level.
In addition, the market capitalization for the Boursa Kuwait reached during the last five sessions more than K.D. 440 million, as it reached by the end of last week about K.D. 29.48 billion, up by 1.52% compared to its level in a week earlier, where it was K.D. 29.04 billion; On an annual level, the market cap gains since the beginning of the year, reached more than K.D. 4 billion, or 16.03% compared to its value at end of 2016, where it reached then K.D. 25.41 billion. (Note: the market cap for the listed companies in the primary market is calculated based on the average number of outstanding shares as per the latest available financial statements).
As per the daily trading activity, the market initiated the first session of the last week with an increase to all its indices, in light of the active positive trading and the purchasing operations that concentrated on the leading and heavy stocks, especially in the Banks sector, where more than half of the cash liquidity concentrated at by the end of the session, which reflected on all the market indicators’ performance, especially the KSX-15 Index that was able to return to above 1000 point closing level, to end the session at its highest level since year 2015. Also, the market continued realizing gains on the second session, however limited, and the three indices continued in increasing supported by the continued support of the leading stocks, amid a continued noticeable growth in the trading value, to end the session at its highest levels in 5 months, whereas it reached approximately K.D. 37 million.
On the mid-week session, the market witnessed profit collection operations included many stocks that realized good gains in the previous sessions, which pushed the three indices to close in the red zone in parallel with a limited decline in the trading activity, on both levels, the cash liquidity and the volume.
The Boursa ended Wednesday’s session with mixed closings to the three indices, as the Price Index was able to return to the green zone once again, supported by the quick speculations and the purchasing operations that concentrated on some idle stocks, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices continued recording losses for the second consecutive session affected by the continued concentration of the profit collection operations on the leading stocks, while fluctuation continued its control over the Boursa indices at the end of week session, however with changing positions, as the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to return to the profit zone once again, supported by the return of the purchasing operations in control over the leading stocks trading, which enhanced the indices’ gains on the weekly level; while the profit collection operations that targeted some small-cap stocks, pushed the Price Index to record limited losses by the end of the session, which limited its weekly gains to a certain extent.
For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 20.28% annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 16.11%, and the KSX-15 recorded 16.05% growth.
Sectors’ Indices
Six of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other six recorded decreases. Last week’s highest gainer was the Health Care sector, achieving 11.48% growth rate as its index closed at 1,683.91 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Industrial sector’s index closed at 1,884.67 points recording 1.07% increase. The Telecommunications sector came in third as its index achieved 1.04% growth, ending the week at 619.43 points.
On the other hand, The Consumer Services sector headed the losers list as its index declined 3.74% to end the week’s activity at 1,026.48 points. The Insurance sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 1.33%, closing 1,154.04 points, followed by the Oil & Gas sector, as its index closed at 1,021.70 points at a loss 0.99%.
Sectors’ Activity
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 234.38 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 33.69% of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 28.77% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 200.16 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 77.87 million or 46.42% of last week’s total market trading value. The Telecommunications sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. K.D 31.30 million representing 18.66% of the total market trading value.