KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the green zone. The Price Index closed at 5,300.51 points, up by 1.34 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index increased by 1.12 percent after closing at 365.07 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 863.14 points up by 1.20 percent. Furthermore, last week's average daily turnover increased by 30.41 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 16.43 million, whereas trading volume average was 248.27 million shares, recording an increase of 33.45 percent.

The three stock market indicators were able to realize a grouped gain for the second consecutive week, especially the Price Index which was able to reach in one session of the week its highest closing level in around three months, supported by the purchasing and speculative operations that were executed on many listed stocks, in addition to the moral support received as a result to the oil prices' increase during the week.

Moreover, the market well performed despite the watch and cautious state that is over controlling many of the traders, waiting for the listed companies to disclose its first quarter financial results for the current year, which is expected to be announced successively in the coming weeks.

As for the daily trading activity, the market initiated its first sessions of the last week with good increases to the three indicators, supported by the quick speculative operations executed on the small-cap stocks in particular, in addition to the random purchasing operations that included some large-cap stocks, especially in the Banks sector. However, the second session witnessed mixed closings for the three indicators, whereas the Price and Weighted indices continued its upward direction affected by the continued speculative operations on the small-cap stocks, whilst the KSX-15 Index recorded some losses as a result to the profit collection operations that a number of heavy stocks were subject to. On Tuesday's session, the profit collection operations overwhelmed the market performance during most of the session's period, which caused the three indicators to drop, however slightly, whereas many stocks witnessed a partial selling operations, in a move for establishing new price positions, especially after the good gains recorded in the previous sessions.

Furthermore, the market was able to return to the green zone in the next session, and the three indicators were able to realize good gains to compensate its losses of the previous session, supported by the return of the active trading and the strong purchasing operations executed on the leading and heavy stocks, in addition to the continued quick speculations on the some small-cap stocks. In the end of week session, the market witnessed some profit collection operations on a number of small-cap stocks, caused its Price Index to record limited decline, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to continue its positive performance to enhance its weekly gains.

In addition, the market capitalization reached KD 23.69 billion by the end of last week, increasing by 1 percent compared to its level in a week earlier, where it was KD 23.54 billion; however on the annual level, the market cap for the listed companies in KSE decreased by 6.50 percent from its value at the end of 2015, where it reached then KD 25.27 billion.

As far as KSE annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 5.60 percent annual loss compared to its closing in 2015, while the weighted index decreased by 4.36 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 4.14 percent loss.

Sectors' Indices

Eight of KSE's sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other four recorded declines. Last week's highest gainer was the Financial Services sector, achieving 3.67 percent growth rate as its index closed at 590.49 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Health Care sector's index closed at 957.04 points or 3.23 percent increase. The Basic Materials sector came in third as its index achieved 3.05 percent growth, ending the week at 968.21 points. The least growing sector was the Consumer Services sector, as its index closed at 923.15 points increasing by 0.09 percent.

On the other hand, the Oil & Gas sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 4.26 percent to end the week's activity at 762.32 points. The Technology sector was second on the losers' list, which index declined by 1.30 percent, closing at 941.80 points, the least declining sector was the Telecommunication sector, as its index closed at 616.88 points at a loss of 0.10 percent.

Sectors' activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 539.67 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 43.47 percent of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector's traded shares were 28.37 percent of last week's total trading volume, with a total of around 352.17 million shares.

On the other hand, the Financial Services sector's stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of around KD 24.48 million or 29.81 percent of last week's total market trading value. The Banks sector took the second place as the sector's last week turnover was approx KD 20.59 million representing 25.07 percent of the total market trading value. --Prepared by the Studies & Research Department, Bayan Investment Co.