Boursa Kuwait ended last week with mixed performance. The Premier Market Index closed at 4,791.84 points, down by 0.39%, the Main Market Index increased by 0.56% after closing at 4,815.54 points, whereas the All-Share Index closed at 4,800.65 points down by 0.05%. Furthermore, last week’s average daily turnover increased by 11.30%, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 11.70 million, whereas trading volume average was 68 million shares, recording an increase of 0.003%.

The Boursa lost more than K.D. 26 million, as its market capitalization reached by the end of last week K.D. 25.97 against K.D. 25.99 in the previous week, down by 0.10%. The Boursa market cap declined since the application of the new market segmentation by around K.D. 1.88 billion, and down by 6.76%.(Note: The market cap 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, the Boursa is currently witnessing a general state of watch for the listed companies results for the first quarter of the current year, amid many hopes that such results will contribute into activating the market trading performance and increasing the cash liquidity level that have been at low levels for a long period.

Also, the Boursa ended last week’s trading with mixed closings to its three indices, whereas the Premier Market Index and All-Share Index recorded limited losses affected by the profit collection operations that the leading stocks were subject to, especially after the increases such stocks realized in the previous sessions of the last week. The Main Market Index was able to go against the current however, and was able to end the week’s trading with some gains, supported by the return of the quick speculative operations in appearing, amid concentration of the speculators on the small-cap stocks as usual. The Market witnessed such performance in light of an increased total cash liquidity compared to the previous week, as it reached K.D. 58.49 million, up by 11.30%, while the total number of traded stocks during the last week reached almost the same level as the previous week, and around 340 million stock.

Moreover, the last week witnessed trading activity over 140 stock out of 175 listed stock in the Market, where prices of 72 stock dropped against prices of 56 stock grew, and prices of 47 stock remained at no change.

Sectors’ Indices

Six of Boursa Kuwait’s sectors ended last week in the red zone, four recorded increases, whereas the Health Care sector’s index & Technology sector’s index closed with no change from the week before. The Telecommunications sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.76% to end the week’s activity at 820.09 points. The Oil & Gas sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.02%, closing at 958.23 points, followed by the Insurance sector, as its index closed at 924.40 points at a loss of 1.48%. The Consumer Goods sector was the least declining as its index closed at 896.55 points with a 0.11% decrease.

On the other hand, last week’s highest gainer was the Consumer Services sector, achieving 3.99% growth rate as its index closed at 1,057.22 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Banks sector’s index closed at 979.33 points recording 0.45% increase. The Real Estate sector came in third as its index achieved 0.21% growth, ending the week at 963.06 points.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated a total trade volume of around 111.31 million shares changing hands during last week, representing 32.76% of the total market trading volume. The Banks sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 20.47% of last week’s total trading volume, with a total of around 69.55 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 26.66 million or 45.59% 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. 9.26 million representing 15.84% of the total market trading value.