Kuwait bourse ends May on mixed note – Market capitalization down 2.19 pct to KD 23.33 bln

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Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended May with mixed performance. The Price Index closed at 5,400.33 points, up by 0.16% compared to the closings of the month before, the Weighted Index decreased by 2.42% after closing at 357.40 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 826.18 points decreasing by 4.30%. Furthermore, last month’s average turnover decreased by 19.08%, compared to the preceding month, reaching KD 11.18 million, whereas trading volume average was 133.20 million shares, recording decrease of 32.10%.

The stock market indices closed mixed by the end of the month, whereas the Price Index was able to record gains for the fourth consecutive month, however relatively small, as it reached 0.16%; on the contrary the Weighted and KSX-15 indices recorded noticeable losses during the month of May, where its monthly losses reached 2.42% and 4.30% respectively, as a result to the selling pressures and the profit collection operations that included many listed stocks headed by the leading stocks in the Financial Services and Telecommunications sectors, the most declining sectors among the others in the market.  Also, the market was able at sometimes to realize increases for the three indices, especially the Price Index which received support from the speculation operations that concentrated on a number of small-cap stocks, which pushed it to end the month’s trading in the green zone.

On the other hand, the month of May witnessed the end of the legal period given for the companies to disclose its first quarter financial results.  By the end of the month, the number of companies that disclosed its results reached 172 out of 186 companies listed in the regular market or 92.47%, realizing a total profit of KD 491.23 million down by 4.80% from the same companies’ results for the same period of last year, where it reached around KD 516.02 million.

Moreover, the market capitalization reached by the end of May around KD 23.33 billion, decreasing by 2.19% compared to its level in March, where it was around KD 23.84 billion; on an annual level, the market cap for the listed companies in KSE declined by 7.65% from its value at end of 2015, where it was around KD 25.27 billion.

For the annual performance, the Price Index ended last month recording 3.83% annual loss compared to its closing in 2015, while the Weighted Index decreased by 6.37%, and the KSX-15 Index recorded 8.25% loss.

Sectors’ Indices

Nine of KSE’s sectors ended last month in the red zone, while the other three recorded increases. The Financial Services sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 4.22% to end the month’s activity at 562.51 points. The Telecommunications sector was second on the losers’ list, which index declined by 2.97%, closing at 612.47 points, followed by the Basic Materials sector, as its index closed at 957.47 points at a loss of 2.88%. The Health Care sector was the least declining as its index closed at 990.98 points with a 0.30% decrease.

On the other hand, last month’s highest gainer was the Consumer Goods sector, achieving 5.91% growth rate as its index closed at 1,137.48 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Industrial sector’s index closed at 1,066.25 points recording 5.66% increase. The Consumer Services sector came in third as its index achieved 4.37% growth, ending the month at 964.84 points.

Sectors’ Activity

The Financial Services sector dominated total trade volume during last month with 996.17 million shares changing hands, representing 33.99% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector’s traded shares were 23.63% of last month’s total trading volume, with a total of 692.42 million shares.

On the other hand, the Banks sector’s stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 68.42 million or 27.81% of last month’s total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector’s last month turnover of KD 49.63 million representing 20.17% of the total market trading value.

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