Stock Market Lost 940 Million Dinars in Two Weeks
Market decline and fear of regional tensions.
Translated by Qiyas from النهار — Original source
The Kuwait Stock Exchange incurred capital losses of approximately 940 million dinars during the week ending with Thursday’s session, as selling pressure intensified and risk appetite waned amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and investors awaiting companies’ results for the first nine months of the year. The market’s capitalization fell from about 51.69 billion dinars at the end of the previous week to 50.76 billion, a decline of nearly 1.8%, coinciding with drops in all major indices and a 4.3% weekly decrease in liquidity to around 346.8 million dinars. These movements reflect heightened caution in trading, with investors reassessing their investment positions in light of regional developments and uncertainty surrounding the global trajectory of inflation and interest rates. Traders are also awaiting corporate results, which will provide clearer indicators of operational performance, profitability, and the ability of listed companies to navigate economic changes.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell below $104 per barrel for Brent crude, after rising by about 1.3% during the first three sessions of the week, while West Texas Intermediate crude traded near $95 per barrel. The decline came as a wave of stock selling prompted investors to reduce their exposure to risky assets, shifting liquidity toward safer instruments, thereby amplifying the impact of general market sentiment over geopolitical risks surrounding energy supplies. However, the price drop does not signal a reduction in risks for the oil market, as shipping movements in the Arabian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Bab el-Mandeb remain vulnerable to security developments, with concerns that any new disruptions could affect insurance and shipping costs and crude flows to global markets. Saudi oil exports via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait returned to around 1.5 million barrels per day in recent days, according to shipping tracking data up to October 12, after at least six loaded tankers transited from the port of Yanbu.
