By: Mohamed Farouk

Mubasher: Boursa Kuwait’s indices opened Sunday on a mixed note as the Premier Market index and the All-Share index grew 0.18% and 0.28%, respectively, while the Main Market index slipped 0.04%.

It is expected that Boursa Kuwait will see significant activity on Sunday, which will be reflected on its indices, market analyst Morad Al-Damghy told Mubasher, projecting that the Kuwaiti stock market will end the session on a positive note.

The activity comes on the back of last week’s decision to raise foreigners’ ownership in Kuwaiti banks to 100% from 49%, the analyst added.

Meanwhile, analyst Ahmed Jassim Al-Qamar, who described the step as positive, noted that raising foreign ownership would allow over $360 million in foreign investments in banking stocks.

Investors are likely to pump around $900 million in additional investments if Kuwait is upgraded on the MSCI index next year, Al-Qamar told Mubasher, noting that combined, this would mean around $1.26 billion in investments in Boursa Kuwait.

The telecom sector led risers by 9:15 am Kuwait time, adding 0.32%, whereas the industrial sector led losers, falling 0.15%.

Boubyan Holding’s led gainers, surging 13.04%, whereas Gulf Bank of Kuwait (GBK) was the top faller, losing 3.95%.

Turnover amounted to KWD 3.2 million after 13.6 million shares changed hands through 515 transactions.

The National Bank of Kuwait’s (NBK) stock, up 0.5%, registered the highest turnover of KWD 907,840, while Noor Investment, up 3.4%, was the most active in terms of volume with 1.42 million shares exchanged.

Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi