(MENAFN - Arab Times) Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the red zone.
The price index ended last week with a decrease amounted to 0.50%, while the weighted index declined by 0.65% compared to the closings of the week before. Furthermore, last week's average daily turnover decreased by 12.12%, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 38.07 million, whereas trading volume average was 588.06 million shares, recording decrease of 14.47%.
After four weeks of positive performance, KSE lost its momentum during last week as a result of profit taking operations, which dominated the market. The profit taking included both of leading and small stocks as well, especially Banking sector. On the other hand, selective buying operations were present during last week, but weren't strong enough to switch KSE indices direction to the green zone.
In addition, more companies announced its first quarter financial results during last week, the number of declared companies reached 28% so far. The total number of declared companies reached 58 out of 204 listed companies, realizing approximately KD 347.40 million, with a decline of 41.53% compared to same companies' results for 2011.
By the end of the week, the price index closed at 6,446.80 points, down by 0.50% from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 0.65% weekly loss after closing at 419.23 points.
Sectors' Indices
Six of KSE's sectors ended last week in the red zone, while the other two recorded increases. The Real Estate sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.32% to end the week's activity at 2,499.8 points. The Investment sector was second on the losers' list, which index declined by 1.45%, closing at 4,084.4 points, followed by the Banks sector, as its index closed at 11,584.8 points at a loss of 0.94%.
The Non Kuwaiti Companies sector was the least declining as its index closed at 5,878.7 points with a 0.27% decrease. On the other hand, last week's highest gainer was the Services sector, achieving 0.85% growth rate as its index closed at 14,757.1 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Insurance sector's index closed at 2,688.1 points recording 0.64% increase.
Sectors' Activity
The Real estate sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 1.05 billion shares changing hands, representing 35.79% of the total market trading volume. The Services sector was second in terms trading volume as the sector's traded shares were 28.52% of last week's total trading volume, with a total of 838.55 million shares.
On the other hand, the Real estate sector's stocks where the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 46.88 million or 24.63% of last week's total market trading value. The Services sector took the second place as the sector's last week turnover of KD 43.40 million represented 22.80% of the total market trading value.
Market Capitalization
KSE total market capitalization declined by 0.65% during last week to reach KD 28.53 billion, as all of KSE's sectors recorded a decrease in their respective market capitalization except for one sector. The Investment sector headed the decliners list as its total market capitalization reached KD 2.14 billion, decreasing by 1.22%. The Non Kuwaiti Companies sector was the second in terms of recorded decline with 1.04% decrease after the total value of its listed companies reached KD 1.77 billion.
The third place was for the Real estate sector, which total market capitalization reached KD 2.03 billion by the end of the week, recording a decline of 0.90%. The Industry sector was the least declining with 0.10% recorded decrease after its market capitalization amounted to KD 2.17 billion. On the other hand, the Insurance sector was last week's only gainer as its total market capitalization increased by 0.68% to reach, by the end of the week, KD 307.72 million.
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