KSE capitalization up 3.2% to KD 35.3B

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 29: Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) managed to record gains during the past week backed by active trades on blue-chip stocks. Both main indices closed in the green zone in all of the week’s trading sessions. However, the weighted index outperformed the price index in most sessions. Price index’s movement was generally horizontal with recording minimal gains by the end of the day, whereas weighted index’s upward trend was more visible during the week as it was able to reach its highest closing levels for the current year. And despite the shorter trading periods during the holy month of Ramadan, trading indicators remained at acceptable levels in the past week, as daily average of trading value reached KD 104.74 million, whereas trading volume average stood at 334.24 million shares.
In terms of last week’s day-to-day trades, KSE ended Sunday’s session with gains for both main indices after registering gradual growth during the day amid significant decrease in all three trading indicators, specifically trading value. During the next three days, KSE price index moved horizontally, as it fluctuated around the 7,900 points level to close with small gains by the end of each trading session. The weighed index, on the other hand, displayed a much better performance due to concentration on a number of blue-chips, which was reflected in daily trading value that has increased significantly in comparison to the first day of the week. On Thursday, price index grew gradually during the session, while weighted index recorded some decline but closed with a minimal gain.By the end of the week, the price index closed at 7,964.3 points, up by 1.53 percent from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 3.24 percent weekly gain after closing at 467.91 points.
Sectors’ IndicesAll of KSE’s sectors ended last week in the green zone except for one sector. Last week’s highest gainer was the Industry sector, achieving 4.29 percent growth rate as its index closed at 6,430.3 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Investment sector’s index closed at 6,811.3 points recording 2.19 percent increase. The Non-Kuwaiti companies sector came in third as its index achieved 1.27 percent growth, ending the week at 8,449.1 points. The Food sector was the least growing as its index closed at 5,037.9 points with a 0.09 percent increase. On the other hand, the Insurance sector was last week’s only loser as its index declined by 0.22 percent to end the week’s activity at 2,817.1 points.
Sectors’ ActivityThe Investment sector dominated total trade volume during last week with around 574.80 million shares changing hands, representing 34.39 percent of the total market trading volume. The Services sector ranked second with a total of 431.69 million shares, 25.83 percent of the total. On the other hand, the Services sector ranked first in terms of trade value, with around KD 270.43 million representing 51.64 percent of the total market trade value, while the Banking sector came in the second place with KD 83.90 million, representing 16.02 percent of the total market’s traded value during the week.
Market CapitalizationKSE total market capitalization grew by 3.23 percent during last week to reach KD 35.33 billion, as all of KSE’s sectors recorded an increase in their respective market capitalization except for one sector. The Services sector headed the growing sectors as its total market capitalization reached KD 10.49 billion, increasing by 4.14 percent. The Industry sector was the second in terms of recoded growth with 3.90 percent increase after the total value of its listed companies reached KD 3.03 billion. The third place was for the Banking sector, which total market capitalization reached KD 10.91 billion by the end of the week, recording an increase of 3.66 percent. The Real Estate sector was the least growing with 0.48 percent recorded growth after its market capitalization amounted to KD 2.20 billion. On the other hand, the Insurance sector was last week’s only decliner as its total market capitalization decreased by 0.11 percent to reach, by the end of the week, KD 335.62 million.