Kuwait Stock Market Loses 178 Million Dinars Last Week
The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) witnessed mixed performance across its indices during the week ending today, with sustained activity in small- and mid-cap listed shares, despite regional uncertainty and the absence of clear indicators pointing to an end to the state of neither war nor peace between the United States and Iran.
The Main Market Index continued its strong performance, rising as the only index to post gains, up 197.38 points, or 2.11 percent, thereby continuing to support overall market performance and offsetting losses in the General Market Index.
In contrast, the First Market Index declined by 79.43 points, or 0.85 percent, amid selling pressure on several listed stocks within the segment, which weighed on the General Market Index, down 29.58 points, or 0.33 percent.
As a result, the market’s capitalization fell by approximately 178.03 million dinars to reach 53.38 billion dinars, compared with 53.55 billion dinars in the week ending September 10, representing a decline of 0.33 percent.
Weekly trading value rose by 8.03 percent to reach 616.4 million dinars, compared with liquidity of 665.8 million dinars, with the First and Main Markets sharing that liquidity equally.
In the final session of the week, mixed index performance persisted, with the Main Market Index continuing its upward trajectory while both the First Market and General Market Indices declined.
The session saw the implementation of the FTSE Russell and S&P reviews, which boosted liquidity by 1.35 percent to 146.1 million dinars, compared with 144.2 million dinars in Wednesday’s session. The market had closed before the reviews were implemented with liquidity of approximately 110 million dinars, before trading volumes increased as the review transactions were executed.
Several small- and mid-cap stocks continued to post positive performance. Mabrad and Emirates topped the list of the most advanced stocks during the session, each gaining more than 7 percent, alongside shares of Marinas and Manazil.
In terms of index performance details, the General Market Index fell by approximately 28.88 points, or 0.32 percent, to reach 8,913 points, with 488 million shares traded through 30,334 transactions.
The First Market Index declined by about 39.35 points, or 0.42 percent, to reach 9,244 points, with liquidity of 89.4 million dinars and trading volumes of 202.3 million shares through 11,958 transactions.
Meanwhile, the Main Market Index rose by approximately 13.23 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 9,530 points, with trading value of 56.7 million dinars and volumes of 285.7 million shares through 18,376 transactions.
Among the most actively traded stocks by value, Betik ranked first with 14.06 million dinars, reaching a price of 770 fils, followed by National Bank with 11.2 million dinars at 854 fils, then Awwali Takaful with 8.3 million dinars closing at 687 fils, Arzan with 7.6 million dinars at 320 fils, and fifth, Eva with 7.1 million dinars reaching 442 fils.
Mabrad topped the list of the most advanced stocks, rising 7.55 percent with 9.3 million shares traded to reach 171 fils, followed by Emirates up 7.19 percent with 8.4 million shares traded to reach 164 fils, then Marinas up 6.5 percent with 5.1 million shares traded to reach 131 fils, Manazil up 5.26 percent with 32 million shares traded to reach 52 fils, and fifth, Tamdeen Investment up 4.31 percent with only five shares traded to reach 1.330 dinars.
On the other hand, Gulf Insurance shares fell by 4.57 percent, leading the list of the most-declining stocks, with 7,069 shares traded to reach a price of 1.336 dinars. This was followed by Al-Jazeera, which dropped 4.35 percent with 1.9 million shares traded, closing at 1.605 dinars. Petroleum shares then declined by 4.16 percent, with 2,259 shares traded, closing at 737 fils. Hotels shares fell by 3.85 percent, but with only 615 shares traded, closing at 250 fils. Finally, Mena shares dropped by 3.68 percent, with approximately 17 million shares traded, closing at 131 fils.
