Boursa Kuwait ended last week in the red zone zone. The Premier Market Index closed at 4,765.78 points, down by 0.66%, the Main Market Index decreased by 0.41% after closing at 4,864.02 points, whereas the All-Share Index closed at 4,801.14 points down by 0.57%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover decreased by 20.98%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 7.38 million, whereas trading volume average was 40.97 million shares, recording a decrease of 33.18%.

The Boursa recorded a weekly loss of over K.D. 147 million, as its market capitalization reached by the end of the last week around K.D. 26.43 billion, against K.D. 26.58 billion in the previous week, down by 0.55%. The losses of the Boursa market cap since the application of the Market Development 2 phase reached K.D. 1.43 billion, down by 5.12%.(Note: The market capitalization of the listed companies in the Market is calculated based on the weighted average number of outstanding shares as per the latest available official financial statements).

On the other hand, last week witnessed the end of the legal disclosure period given for the listed companies to disclose its fiscal results for the first quarter of 2018. By the end of last week, the total number of the listed companies that announced its results reached 161 company out of 175 listed company in the Market, where the total profit recorded by all companies reached around K.D. 547.54 million, up by 5.78% from the total profit of the same companies for the same period of last year, as it reached then around K.D. 517.64 million.

The Market took a downward direction during the last week and its three indices recorded different losses in light of the success of the selling pressures and the profit collection operations over the random purchasing operations that were present during some daily sessions of the week, where the selling operations included many stocks that have been traded on, amid a decreased trading indicators compared to the previous week’s trading, as the total value dropped by the end of the week to reach K.D. 36.91 million, and the total volume declined to reach 204.86 million stock.

Last week witnessed trading over 146 stock out of 175 listed stock in the Market, where the prices of 54 stock increased against a decrease in prices of 69 stock , while the prices of 52 remained at no change.

Sectors’ Indices

Five of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the green zone, seven recorded decreases. Last week’s highest gainer was the Oil & Gas sector, achieving 2.24% growth rate as its index closed at 996.48 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Telecommunications sector’s index closed at 803.72 points recording 0.61% increase. The Insurance sector came in third as its index achieved 0.58% growth, ending the week at 935.29 points.

On the other hand, The Technology sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 10.03% to end the week’s activity at 881.86 points. The Consumer Goods sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.55%, closing at 877.33 points, followed by the Banks sector, as its index closed at 977.29 points at a loss of 0.87%. The Health Care sector was the least declining as its index closed at 995.60 points with a 0.07% decrease.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 72.23 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 35.30% of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 23.50% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 48.08 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 15.31 million or 41.50% 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. K.D. 5.25 million representing 14.23% of the total market trading value.