Regional political issues pressure market - Market lose KD 290 million during the last five sessions

KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,186.94 points, down by 0.15 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 1.24 percent after closing at 393.84 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 894.99 points down by 1.49 percent. Furthermore, the week's average daily turnover increased by 2.47 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 12.58 million, whereas trading volume average was 68.29 million shares, recording an increase of 6.44 percent.

The trading activity during the last week showed an upward direction for the market at start , where its three indices were able to record increases in the first session of the week, however, it could not continue such performance and its indices declined gradually in the following sessions under the influence of the elevated political issues that the region is undergoing this period, which pushed many traders to take the selling operations direction, and contributed in diverting the market to the red zone.

On the other hand, Boursa Kuwait recorded market losses of over KD 290 million during the last five sessions, whereas the total market cap for the listed stocks in the regular market reached by the end of the last week KD 26.38 billion, down by 1.09 percent of its value at a week earlier, where it was KD 26.67 billion. On an annual level, the market cap gains reached 3.84 percent compared to its value at end of last year, where it reached KD 25.41 billion. (Note: The market cap for the listed companies in the regular market is calculated based on the average number of outstanding shares as per the latest official available financial statements).

Moreover, the market initiated its first session of last week with mixed gains for its three indices, benefiting from the heavy purchasing operations that targeted some listed stocks in the market, headed by the nine stocks nominated to join (FTSE) Index, which in turn received the highest portion of the traded cash liquidity during the session. On the next session, the Boursa ended it with mixed closings for its three indices, whereas the Price Index continued its increase affected by the quick speculations that targeted some small-cap stocks, while the profit collection operations that included some leading stocks pushed the Weighted and KSX-15 indices to record different losses by the end of the session.

On the mid-week session, the three market indices declined in light of the increased selling pressures and the profit collection operations on many stocks of both leading and small-cap ones, amid decreased traded liquidity and volume compared to the previous session, whereas the value reached KD 11.45 million only, while the volume reached by the end of the session 59.21 million share.

Also, Boursa Kuwait witnessed in the last two sessions of the last week a continued control of the random selling operations on the trading activity, amid refrain of some traders from trading temporarily, waiting for some positive indicators to appear to encourage them to enter the market once again, especially in light of the presence of many negative factors surrounding the market whether internally or externally.

For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 7.63 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 3.62 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 1.13 percent growth.

Sectors' Indices

Eight of Boursa Kuwait's sectors ended last week in the red zone, three recorded increases, whereas the Health Care sector's index closed with no change from the week before. The Technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.74 percent to end the week's activity at 480.25 points. The Consumer Goods sector was second on the losers' list, which index declined by 3.41 percent, closing at 847.34 points, followed by the Telecommunications sector, as its index closed at 535.69 points at a loss of 2.08 percent. The Real Estate sector was the least declining as its index closed at 877.08 points with a 0.18 percent decrease.

On the other hand, last week's highest gainer was the Insurance sector, achieving 4.16 percent growth rate as its index closed at 1,044.99 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Industrial sector's index closed at 1,722.61 points recording 1.01 percent increase. The Consumer Services sector came in third as its index achieved 0.14 percent growth, ending the week at 920.83 points.

Sectors' Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 116.49 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 34.11 percent of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector's traded shares were 24.02 percent of last week's total trading volume, with a total of around 82.03 million shares.

On the other hand, the Banks sector's stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around KD 27.40 million or 43.56 percent 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. KD 10.94 million representing 17.40 percent of the total market trading value.-Prepared by: Studies & Research Department - Bayan Investment Co.

BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT