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KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended September with mixed performance. The Price Index closed at 5,398.39 points, down by 0.39% compared to the closings of the month before, the Weighted Index increased by 1.30% after closing at 351.87 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 814.10 points increasing by 1.53%. Furthermore, last month's average turnover decreased by 8.68%, compared to the preceding month, reaching KD 6.02 million, whereas trading volume average was 56.38 million shares, recording decrease of 9.34%.

The stock market indices' closings were mixed as a result to the different traders' preferences, where there was a purchasing trend on some leading and operational listed stocks headed by the Banks Sector stocks, which positively affected the Weighted and KSX-15 indices' performance to end the month in the green zone, while the small-cap stocks continued its pressure on the Price Index to end the last month with some loss due to the quick speculations and the profit collection operations witnessed by such stocks during most of the daily sessions of the month.

The market performance during the month of September was reflected on the total market capitalization, which gained around KD 314 million, despite the decreased number of trading days during the month, due to the Adha Eid holiday, as the market cap reached by the end of the month KD 23.64 billion, compared to KD 23.32 billion at end of August, and with a growth of 1.34%.

On the other hand, the market witnessed during the last month a refrain from trading by some traders, waiting for positive motivators to arise and to push them to invest their money in the market, which caused the trading activity to drop on both levels, the volume and the value, compared to the month of August. Also, the market is currently witnessing a general state of watch and cautious in dealing, as the traders are waiting for the listed companies 9 months 2016 results, which contributed to the decline in the trading activity.

For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last month recording 3.86% annual loss compared to its closing in 2015, while the Weighted Index decreased by 7.82%, and the KSX-15 Index recorded 9.59% loss.

Sectors' Indices

Eight of KSE's sectors ended last month in the red zone, while the other four recorded increases. The Consumer Goods sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 3.21% to end the month's activity at 1,132.32 points. The Insurance sector was second on the losers' list, which index declined by 2.31%, closing at 975.19 points, followed by the Oil & Gas sector, as its index closed at 756.96 points at a loss of 1.31%. The Technology sector was the least declining as its index closed at 968.08 points with a 0.24% decrease.

On the other hand, last month's highest gainer was the Banks sector, achieving 0.81% growth rate as its index closed at 794.59 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Health Care sector's index closed at 1,069.57 points recording 0.56% increase. The Industrial sector was the least growing as its index closed at 1,154.56 points with a 0.41% increase.

Sectors' Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated total trade volume during last month with 359.71 million shares changing hands, representing 39.88% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector's traded shares were 27.07% of last month's total trading volume, with a total of 244.16 million shares

On the other hand, the Banks sector's stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 27.97 million or 29.03% of last month's total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector's last month turnover of KD 18.13 million representing 18.81% of the total market trading value.