By: Mohamed Farouk

Mubasher: Boursa Kuwait closed this week’s trading sessions in the red zone for the fourth consecutive week amid significantly high trading volumes, although the first week of March saw only two trading session as it coincided with national holidays.

The Premier Index sank by 5.04% or 339.2 points this week, settling at 6,390.96 points, compared to 6,730.18 a week earlier.

The Main BK 50 Index slumped by 3.01% or 147.3 points by the end of the week at 4,742.97 points when compared to 4,890.23 points. 

Moreover, the Main Market retreated by 3.64% or 173.7 points this week to close at 4,595.65 points from 4,769.33 points.

The All-Share Market decreased by 4.68% or 284 points, reaching 5,788.04 points from 6,072.05 points.  

Trading activity

Weekly turnover surged by 256.8% to stand at KWD 228.62 million this week, compared to KWD 64.08 million a week ago, with a total average weekly turnover amounting to KWD 45.72 million per session.

Similarly, trading volume increased by 210.4% on a weekly basis to 1.02 billion shares from 328.74 million, with an average of 204.09 million shares per session.

The total number of concluded transactions amounted to 49,950 this week, significantly up by 223.3% from 15,450 in the previous week. The average number of transactions registered 10,000 per session.

Market capitalisation 

By the end of this week, the market cap value of the Kuwaiti bourse shrank to KWD 32.985 billion ($108.06 billion) from KWD 34.595 billion ($113.34 billion) a week earlier.

Losses recorded over the week reached 4.65% or KWD 1.61 billion ($5.27 billion).

Year-to-date, Boursa Kuwait’s market cap value shed 7.44%, after it incurred KWD 2.65 billion losses, compared to KWD 35.637 billion by the end of 2019. 

Commenting on the Kuwaiti market's weekly performance, capital market analyst Hassan Al Kandari told Mubasher that the indices’ downward trend over the week came alongside the announcement of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, reflected how growing fears regarding the epidemic are clobbering stock markets.

The analyst forecasts temporary and short-term impacts for the novel virus, predicting indices will see a sharp bounce back similar to the recorded decline.  

Technically, the All-Share Market was negatively affected as it fell to the level of 5,508 points and lost more than 660 points but then rebounded to the level of 5,842 points, leaving a gap of 330 points.

The current support level for the All-Share index is placed at 5,810 points in case it continues rebounding, while current resistance levels lie at 5,950 points, 6,030 points, 6,170 points, then 6,235 points, and 6,310 points, respectively, the analyst added.      

Translated by: Amal A. Wahaab