ShareKUWAIT: Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the red zone. The Price Index closed at 6,687.53 points, down by 0.57 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 0.35 percent after closing at 402.21 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 914.82 points declining by 0.50 percent. Furthermore, last week's average daily turnover decreased by 53.10 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 8.06 million, whereas trading volume average was 64.40 million shares, recording a drop of 66.32 percent.
The Boursa ended the week's trading with a decrease to the three indices, affected by the selling trend on many stocks headed by the small-cap ones that witnessed fluctuated performance during the week, where the first few sessions witnessed active purchasing activity caused such stocks to increase rapidly and pushed the Price Index to maximize its gains, before the last few sessions of the week witness a strong profit collection trend caused it to lose all its previous gains. Also, the leading stocks were subject to the selling pressures witnessed by the Boursa during last week's trading, as the same stocks were subject to the profit collection operations after the gains it realized in a week earlier, which negatively affected the Weighted and KSX-15 indices that measure the performance of such stocks, to end by this the three market indices the week's trading in the red zone.
On the other hand, Boursa Kuwait lost during the last week about KD 38 million in liquidity, as the market capitalization for the listed companies in the primary market reached KD 26.70 billion, down by 0.14 percent from its value in an earlier week, where it reached then KD 26.74 billion. On an annual level, the market cap gains contracted since the beginning of the year to reach 5.09 percent compared to its value at end of last year, where it reached KD 25.41 billion. (Note: The optional delisting decision of Kuwait Slaughter House Company form the market during the last week, contributed to decreasing the Boursa capital value by KD 5.5 million, the total market cap of the same company).
As per the daily trading activity, the Boursa Kuwait witnessed in the first session of the last week an increase to the three indices supported by the speculative and the active purchasing operations that included a wide range of listed stocks headed by the small-cap stocks, despite the large decrease in the trading rate reaching very low levels of both the value and volume; whereas the volume reached about 40.85 million stock, while the value reached by the end of the session KD 5.68 million only, its lowest level during the current year. The second session of the week witnessed a mixed closing for the three indices, whereas the Price Index was able to continue its increase supported by the continued quick speculative operations on the small-cap stocks, especially the ones being traded below its par and book values, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were subject to the profit collection operations that included some leading and heavy stocks, which caused the session to end in the red zone.
Also, the mid-week session witnessed a continued fluctuation in the three indices closings, with changing positions, whereas the small-cap stocks were subject this time to the profit collection operations executed on a number of small-cap stocks of previous gains, which caused the Price Index to decline at the end of the session, while the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to increase and compensate a part of its previous losses affected by the random purchasing operations that concentrated on a number of leading and operational stocks. The last two sessions of the week witnessed a strong selling trend that included many stocks headed by the leading ones, which caused the three indices to lose all its gains realized since the beginning of the week, in light of the selling pressures and the trader's tend to profit collection operations to benefit from the increased that their stocks recorded in the previous sessions.
For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 16.34 percent annual gain compared to its closing in 2016, while the Weighted Index increased by 5.82 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 3.37 percent growth.
Sectors' Indices
Seven of Boursa Kuwait's sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other five recorded increases. The Technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 5.08 percent to end the week's activity at 637.99 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers' list, which index declined by 2.75 percent, closing at 605.95 points, followed by the Oil & Gas sector, as its index closed at 1,046.23 points at a loss of 2.68 percent. The Banks sector was the least declining as its index closed at 918.49 points with a 0.75 percent decrease.
On the other hand, last week's highest gainer was the Consumer Services sector, achieving 2.10 percent growth rate as its index closed at 880.50 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Insurance sector's index closed at 1,061.93 points recording 1.87 percent increase. The Consumer Goods sector came in third as its index achieved 1.76 percent growth, ending the week at 1,140.38 points.
Sectors' Activity
The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 128.63 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 39.95 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 35.82 percent of last week's total trading volume, with a total of around 115.34 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 14.12 million or 35.05 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 11.75 million representing 29.18 percent of the total market trading value. --Prepared by: Studies & Research Department - Bayan Investment Co.
