Boursa Kuwait ended last week with mixed closings, whereas the Price Index closed at 6,662.35 points, down by 1.45% from the week before closing, and the Weighted Index decreased by 0.58% after closing at 409.71 points, however, the KSX-15 Index closed at 958.60 points up by 0.06%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 7.02%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 10.79 million, whereas trading volume average reached 49.93 million shares, recording a decrease of 4.82%.

Boursa Kuwait performance was still weak last week amid the control of the watch state, especially that the market segmentation and categorization of the listed companies stage is approaching, as the Boursa witnessed during the last week a poor performance that pushed its three indices to end the week with mixed closings, whereas the Price and Weighted indices declined in light of the selling pressures and the profit collection operations that were executed on some leading and small-cap stocks, while the KSX-15 Index was able to realize a limited weekly growth after the random purchasing operations that concentrated on some heavy stocks, especially in the end of week session. Such fluctuation came amid a refrain of large part of the traders from trading during this period, waiting for the outcome of the market segmentation during the coming days, in addition to watching for the financial data of the companies that did not disclose its annual results of 2017, with fear of the possibility of banning the stocks of such companies from trading if it could not announce its results before the end of the month, which is the end of the disclosing period. Moreover, the Price Index ended the week’s trading with a loss of 1.45%, while the Weighted Index recorded a weekly loss of 0.58%, however the KSX-15 Index succeeded in recording limited weekly gains of 0.06%.

Also, last week witnessed trading on 148 stock out of 176 listed stock in the market, whereas 32 stock grew against 96 stock dropped, and 48 stock remained at no change.

On the other hand, the Boursa lost around K.D. 160 million compared to the previous week, as the market capitalization reached by the end of last week around K.D. 27.24 billion against K.D. 27.40 billion in the preceding week, down by 0.58%. The market cap since the beginning of the year contracted to reach about K.D. 298 million, with a growth of 1.11% compared to its value at end of 2017, where it was then K.D. 26.94 billion. (Note: The market capitalization of the listed companies in the Primary Market is calculated based on the number of the outstanding shares as per the latest available official financial statements).

As far as the daily trading activity during the last week, the three market indices fluctuated in the first session of the week, whereas the Price Index decreased affected by the selling pressures executed on some small-cap and low price stocks, especially in the Insurance and Consumer Services sectors, the most declining sectors by the end of the session. On the contrary, the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to end the session recording limited growth as a result to the active trading that concentrated on a number of the heavy stocks. The market witnessed such fluctuation in light of the increased cash liquidity that reached around K.D. 13.40 million, up by 41.40%.

The second session of the week witnessed a negative performance that pushed the three indices to close in the red zone, in light of a weak performance and a refrain from purchase, amid a noticeable activity of the quick speculative operations that targeted in the first place some small-cap stocks, and the market dropped also affected by the profit collection operations that were present during the session and included many small-cap and leading stocks, with a noticeable decline in the cash liquidity that reached by the end of the session to around K.D. 10.12 million. On the mid-week session however, the negative performance of the three Boursa indices continued and it met in the red zone for the second consecutive session, in light of the profit collection operations which included a number of both small-cap and leading listed stocks, with a continued decline in the trading indicators in general.

Furthermore, the market continued its losses series in the fourth session of the week, whereas its three indices closed at a decrease as a result to the continued selling pressures on the low price stocks which did not disclose its financial results of 2017, in addition to the continued profit collection operations on the leading stocks, while the other trading indicators increased, as the cash liquidity grew by 40.55% reaching K.D. 12.46 million by the end of the session. On the end of the week session however, the market indices returned to fluctuate once again, as the Weighted and KSX-15 indices were able to realize some gains, while the Price Index could not follow its peers, and closed with a decline of 0.37%, affected by the selling pressures that were present during the session and concentrated on the small-cap stocks, accompanied by a decline of the trading indicators in general, where all the liquidity and value and volume decreased.

For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last week recording 3.97% annual gain compared to its closing in 2017, while the Weighted Index increased by 2.07%, and the KSX-15 recorded a 4.78% growth.

Sectors’ Indices

Five of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, and seven recorded declines compared to its closings in the previous week. Last week’s highest gainer was the Basic Materials sector, achieving 3.02% growth rate as its index closed at 1,368.12 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Health Care sector’s index closed at 1,432.16 points recording 2.03% increase. The Oil & Gas sector came in third, as its index achieved 1.22% growth, ending the week at 954.35 points.

On the other hand, the Insurance sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 4.46% to end the week’s activity at 973.88 points. The Consumer Services sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 3.36%, closing at 846.58 points, followed by the Financial Services sector, as its index closed at 598.10 points at a loss of 2.95%.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 56.61 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 22.68% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 22.58% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 56.36 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 23.10 million or 42.83% of last week’s total market trading value. The Industrial sector took the second place as the sector’s last week turnover was approx. K.D. 8.28 million representing 15.34% of the total market trading value.