By: Mohamed Farouk

Mubasher: The indices of the Kuwaiti stock market on Monday continued their downward trend for the fourth consecutive session, dragged by low trading amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread worldwide and decline in oil prices.

Earlier today, the bourse temporarily stopped trading on the Premier Market until the end of the session as its index slipped by more than 10%.

The BK 50 and Main indices decreased by 6% and 4.24%, respectively on Monday, while the All-Share dipped by 8.61%.

The turnover shrank to its second-lowest level in March so far at KWD 11.66 million, down by 68.4% from KWD 49.33 million on Sunday. The trading volume plunged by 36.2% to 127.48 million shares from 199.68 million.

Meanwhile, all sectors registered losses, led by the industry segment with 11.17%, followed by the banks with 9.73%.

Agility Public Warehousing came on top of the fallers with 18.92%, whereas IFA Hotels and Resorts topped the risers with 11.11%.

The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) recorded the largest liquidity of KWD 2.67 million, the stock retreated 11.26%.

Furthermore, Investors Holding Group led the trading activity through the exchange of 13.72 million shares, the stock slipped 4%.   

The poor performance of stock markets, whether locally, regionally, or globally, is logical due to the fear surrounding the novel disease, capital market analyst Yassin El Zeiny told Mubasher.  

Oil prices could settle down below $30 in response to the global price war, which started after Russia rejected an agreement with OPEC on cuts in oil production, with Saudi Arabia deciding to slash prices last Saturday, he clarified. 

The analyst further predicted the Kuwaiti market to register losses over the week, such as the case with other markets.