By: Mohamed Farouk 

Mubasher: Boursa Kuwait closed Wednesday’s trading session lower, as the Premier, Main, and BK 50 indices inched down by 0.98%, 0.5%, and 0.4%, respectively, while the All-Share index dropped by 0.85%.  

Turnover amounted to KWD 42.4 million on Wednesday, down by 18.7% from KWD 52.12 million a day earlier. Trading volume also slid by 25.5% to 178.78 million shares from 240.02 million shares on Tuesday.

The oil and gas sector led nine losers and fell by 3.7%, whereas the insurance and real estate sectors were the only winners with each rising by 0.92%.

Hayat Communications came on top of the losing stocks with 13.88%, whereas Burgan for Well Drilling was the top riser with 17.7%.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) logged the highest turnover of KWD 11.16 million and the stock retreated by 1.8%, while Ahli United Bank (AUB) led the trading activity through the exchange of 30.04 million shares, closing down by 1.9%.  

The downward performance of the Kuwaiti bourse today is largely attributed to a similar trend among other stock exchanges in the region, after the US Federal Reserve’s sudden move yesterday to slash interest rate by half a percentage point, capital market analyst Nezar Younis told Mubasher.   

The performance also comes as experts believe that the Fed decision reflects fears over the new coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on the global economy, he added.