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KUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,783.42 points, down by 0.44 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 1.45 percent after closing at 400.23 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 906.77 points declining by 1.30 percent. Furthermore, last week's average daily turnover decreased by 36.63 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 6.91 million, whereas trading volume average was 37.19 million shares, recording a drop of 37.79 percent.

Boursa Kuwait ended last week's trading with mixed losses to the three indices compared to its closing in a week earlier, in light of the selling trend that the market witnessed during most of the daily sessions of the week, which included many listed stocks headed by the leading and the heavy ones, and had a noticeable effect on the Weighted and KSX-15 indices in particular, the most declining indices by the end of the week. Also, the Boursa recorded its losses in parallel with the noticeable decrease in the trading activity, where the total cash liquidity declined during the five sessions of the week to reach KD 34.53 million only, and the volume dropped to 185.98 million stock during the week.

Moreover, the Boursa lost around KD 395 million during the last five sessions, whereas the market capitalization reached by the end of the last week KD 26.60 billion, down by 1.46 percent compared to its level in a week earlier, where it was KD 26.99 billion. On an annual level, the market cap for the listed companies in the market recorded growth of 4.69 percent from its value at end of 2016, where it reached then about KD 25.41 billion.

As far as the daily sessions of the week, the Boursa initiated its first session with mixed closing for its three indices, as only the Price Index was able to increase, benefiting from the purchasing powers that targeted some idle small-cap stocks that are being traded below its book and nominal values; while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices dropped affected by the profit collection operations executed on some leading stocks, especially after the increases such stocks realized during the previous week's trading. On the next session, the market was subject to the selling pressures that included many stocks of leading or small-cap, which negatively reflected on the three indices' performance to end the session in the red zone.

On the mid-week session, the three indices returned to fluctuate once again, where the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to record limited increases supported by the return of the purchasing operations to lead once again, and concentrated on some heavy stocks of previous decreases which reached tempting purchasing levels, while the Price Index remained in the red zone affected by the continued profit collection operations' on the small-cap stocks. On Wednesday's session, the market witnessed a continued fluctuated closing, whereas the Price Index was able to return to the green zone once again supported by the collection operations on some stocks, especially in the Technology and Oil & Gas sectors, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices declined by the end of the session affected by the profit collection operations executed on a number of leading and operational stocks.

The last session of the week witnessed a red zone closing for the Price and Weighted indices, while the KSX--15 Index was able to end the session's trading with good increase. The market realized such performance amid a decline in the trading activity, for both the value and volume, where the volume dropped by 20.46 percent compared to the previous session, and the value decreased by 20.85 percent. For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 18.01 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 5.30 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 2.46 percent growth.

Sectors' Indices

Eight of B Boursa Kuwait's sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other three recorded increases. whereas the Health Care sector's index closed with no change from the week before. The Consumer Goods sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.57 percent to end the week's activity at 1,126.73 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers' list, which index declined by 2.01 percent, closing at 601.70 points, followed by the Industrial sector, as its index closed at 1,813.13 points at a loss of 1.97 percent. The Real Estate sector was the least declining as its index closed at 949.00 points with a 0.61 percent decrease.

On the other hand, last week's highest gainer was the Consumer Services sector, achieving 10.61 percent growth rate as its index closed at 1,122.71 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Basic Materials sector's index closed at 1,309.60 points recording 0.85 percent increase. The Technology sector came in third as its index achieved 0.01 percent growth, ending the week at 704.01 points.

Sectors' Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 55.23 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 29.69 percent of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector's traded shares were 23.96 percent of last week's total trading volume, with a total of around 44.56 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 14.11 million or 40.85 percent of last week's total market trading value. The Industrial sector took the second place as the sector's last week turnover was approx. KD 5.73 million representing 16.60 percent of the total market trading value. -Prepared by: Studies & Research Department - Bayan Investment Co.

BAYAN WEEKLY MARKET REPORT