Bourse Liquidity Reaches KD 98.3 Million

Kuwait Stock Exchange indicators showed mixed performance today, concluding the penultimate trading session of the week. The main market index rose slightly in isolation, while both the First Market and General Market indices declined amid selling pressure affecting several leading stocks.

The decline in the First Market occurred as several of its stocks faced selling activity, which negatively impacted the index’s performance and pushed it into negative territory, thereby casting a shadow over the overall market performance.

Profit-taking was among the key factors contributing to the divergence in index performance, following three sessions of significant gains, alongside heightened anticipation of the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates and investors’ continued monitoring of regional developments and their potential impact on financial markets.

Trading liquidity maintained strong levels, approaching the 100 million dinar mark; it rose by 10.6 percent to reach approximately 98.3 million dinars, compared to 88.9 million dinars at the close of yesterday’s session.

The First Market continued to capture the largest share of this liquidity, although its share decreased to 55 percent, while the main market’s share of the total increased to 45 percent.

Despite the selling pressure affecting most stocks in the First Market, Makhazen stock bucked the trend, recording a notable rise of over 9 percent, emerging as one of the top-performing stocks during the session.

A group of stocks delivered notable performance across the market, including Maaden, National Real Estate, and Arab Real Estate, while KAMCO stock led the list of the most declined stocks.

A total of 130 stocks were traded; 39 rose, 69 fell, and prices remained stable for 22 stocks. Weighted indices declined for nine sectors in the market, led by the telecommunications sector, which fell by 1.16 percent, and the banking sector, which dropped by 1.02 percent. Meanwhile, indices rose for three sectors: industry by 1.46 percent, real estate by 0.37 percent, and insurance by 0.23 percent, while the utilities sector’s index remained stable.

In detail, the General Market index recorded a decline of approximately 58.83 points, equivalent to 0.69 percent, closing at 8,490 points. A volume of 498.1 million shares was traded through 21,079 transactions.

The First Market index also lost approximately 76.74 points, or 0.85 percent, reaching 8,939 points, with liquidity valued at 54.1 million dinars and trading volumes of 194 million shares executed through 9,161 transactions.

Meanwhile, the Main Market index rose by approximately 11.06 points, or 0.13 percent, closing at 8,449 points, with a traded value of 44.2 million dinars and a trading volume of 304 million shares executed through 11,918 transactions.

As a result, the stock market’s capitalization lost approximately 351.1 million dinars, reaching 50.84 billion dinars, a decrease of 0.68 percent compared to the previous day’s closing value of 51.19 billion dinars.

Regarding the most traded stocks by value, National Bank of Kuwait ranked first with a value of 23.8 million dinars, closing at a price of 145 fils. Makhazen followed with 11.4 million dinars, closing at 155 fils. Bayt Al Mal came third with 7.3 million dinars, closing at 752 fils. The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) ranked fourth with 3.2 million dinars, closing at 851 fils. Kuwait Investment Company placed fifth with 3.08 million dinars, closing at 169 fils.

Ma’aden topped the list of the most rising stocks with a 9.20 percent gain, trading 560,000 shares to reach a price of 178 fils, followed by Makhazen by 9.15 percent, with a traded volume of 76.1 million shares, then Watania by 9.02 percent, trading 177.2 million shares to reach a price of 145 fils, and Al Arabiya Real Estate by 6.60 percent, trading 12.7 million shares to reach a price of 210 fils, and fifth was Al-Imtiyaz by 4.74 percent, trading 32.2 million shares to reach a price of 64.1 fils.

On the other hand, KAMCO stock recorded a decline of 8.51 percent to top the list of the most falling stocks, trading 2.34 million shares to reach a price of 172 fils, followed by KEF by 5.88 percent, with a traded volume of 58,900 shares, dropping to a price of 160 fils, then Emirates by 4.69 percent, trading 395,200 shares to close at a price of 122 fils, and Umm Al Quwain by 4.51 percent, but with only 102 shares traded, dropping to a price of 127 fils, and fifth was Nabisco, by 4.38 percent, also with only about 204 shares traded, closing at a price of 1.353 dinars.