Bourse Fails to Break Downtrend, Incurs New Losses

The Kuwait Stock Exchange continued its efforts to emerge from the wave of declines that dominated its performance in recent days, but today’s session deepened market losses amid sustained pressure on indices and stocks.

Despite a positive start to trading, with all market indices rising at the opening, the trend soon turned downward, with declines intensifying in the final hour, pushing the market to close with additional losses.

Amid these declines, the market’s capitalization lost the 52 billion dinar mark, dropping by approximately 315.9 million dinars during today’s session to settle at 51.73 billion dinars, down from 52.04 billion dinars at the close of yesterday’s session. This brings the total capitalization losses over today’s and yesterday’s sessions to approximately 458.1 million dinars.

The market’s decline comes amid a range of factors heightening caution among traders, foremost among them the continued uncertainty in the region and fears of a resumption and escalation of war, as well as the market entering a correction phase after gains achieved in recent periods, which were largely concentrated in small and mid-cap stocks.

Traders are also awaiting companies’ results for the first nine months, anticipating what the financial data will reveal about corporate performance during the current period.

Circulating liquidity rose modestly by 3.8 percent, reaching 63.01 million dinars, compared to 60.6 million dinars at the close of yesterday’s session. The First Market accounted for the largest share of this liquidity at 63 percent, while the Main Market held the remaining 37 percent.

During the session, prices fell for 88 of the 130 stocks traded, while 30 stocks rose, and 12 stocks maintained their previous levels, reflecting the dominance of selling pressure in trading activity.

Despite the overall negative picture, a number of stocks managed to post positive performance, led by Mizan, listed on the First Market, which rose by more than 2.5 percent. The Main Market also saw several stocks rise, although part of these gains occurred on limited trading volumes.

Weighted indices for 10 sectors in the market declined, led by the Technology sector, which fell by 8.90 percent, and Insurance, which dropped by 2.22 percent. Meanwhile, indices for three sectors rose: Consumer Goods by 2.51 percent, Healthcare by 1.61 percent, and Energy by 1.40 percent.

In terms of index performance, the General Market Index fell by approximately 51.45 points, or 0.59 percent, to reach 8,638 points, with 225.1 million shares traded across 19,710 transactions.

The First Market Index also lost approximately 50.85 points, or 0.56 percent, to close at 9,033 points, with liquidity valued at 39.7 million dinars, trading volumes of 100.3 million shares, and 8,767 transactions.

The Main Index declined by approximately 66.83 points, or 0.75 percent, closing at 8,887 points, with a traded value of 23.3 million dinars, 124.8 million shares traded, and 10,943 transactions.

Regarding the most actively traded stocks by value, Bank of Kuwait (Boubyan) ranked first with a value of 6.3 million dinars, closing at a price of 769 fils, followed by National Bank of Kuwait at 3.7 million dinars, closing at 829 fils, then EFG Hermes (Eiva) at 3.5 million dinars, closing at 480 fils, and Tazko at 3 million dinars, closing at 329 fils. Kuwait Real Estate ranked fifth with 2.2 million dinars, closing at 368 fils.

Tamdeen Investment’s stock topped the list of the most-gaining shares, rising 10 percent, albeit with very limited trading of just four shares, reaching a price of 1.210 dinars. It was followed by Al-Taqaddum, which gained 4.48 percent, also with limited trading volume of only 72 shares, closing at 560 fils. Petroleum came in third, up 4.10 percent, with a trading volume of 33,300 shares, reaching a price of 788 fils. Al-Arabia Real Estate rose 3.14 percent, with a trading volume of 7.97 million shares, closing at 197 fils. Fifth was Mizan, up 2.55 percent, with a trading volume of 591,800 shares, reaching a price of 1.125 dinars.

On the other side, Agyal stock recorded a decline of 15.70 percent, leading the list of the most-declining shares, with a trading volume of 64,200 shares, closing at 306 fils. It was followed by Hotels, down 11.76 percent, with a trading volume of 19,500 shares, dropping to a price of 225 fils. Then came Anzima, down 8.90 percent, with a trading volume of 1.15 million shares, closing at 860 fils. Kuwait Insurance fell 7.69 percent, with a trading volume of 1,301 shares, dropping to a price of 420 fils. Fifth was Shuwaikh, down 5.13 percent, with a trading volume of approximately 209,500 shares, closing at 222 fils.