Mubasher: The Kuwaiti Capital Market Authority (CMA) has decided to cancel the stock exchange’s trading session of Wednesday, 10 June, and all its transactions.

The opening of Thursday’s session was at the levels of Tuesday’s close, as was announced before the session started.

Accordingly, Boursa Kuwait announced that all existing outstanding orders will be cancelled, effective on Thursday 11 June.

On Wednesday, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) cited remarks by the Kuwaiti Banking Association (BKA) that there will be no cash dividend distributions by listed banks this year.

The remarks, which were announced during the trading session, led to huge losses of all market indices.

According to the CMA, the KUNA report included inaccurate information from a non-specialized entity and at a time that did not consider the market conditions at its negative effect on stock trading, especially as the banks' sector dominates about 70% of the bourse’s turnover.

The CMA further explained that it had to intervene in an unprecedented manner after the governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) explained that the decision to cancel cash dividends is optional and not binding to all banks.

Banks that achieve profits could distribute dividends, the CBK governor told local press on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Mubasher reported on the implications of the banking association’s sudden decision, after all the market indices closed in the red zone.