(MENAFN - Arab Times) Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week with variance on its indices. The price index ended last week with an increase amounted to 2.41%, while the weighted index increased by 0.65% compared to the closings of the week before, whereas KSX-15 Index decreased by 0.29%.
Furthermore, last week's average daily turnover increased by 37.88%, compared to the preceding week, reaching KD 65.06 million, whereas trading volume average was 923.95 million shares, recording increase of 41.65%.Kuwait Stock Exchange performance was mixed in most of last week's daily sessions, due to the trading variance witnessed on some stocks during the week. The small-cap stocks remained to be the lead player in the market activity, as it witnessed strong purchasing operations and quick speculations which positively affected the market indices, especially the Price Index which was able to close at its highest levels in two years and since Feb 10, 2011.
On the contrary, the profit collection operations were strongly present during some sessions last week, and were concentrating on leading stocks and some small-cap stocks, which in turn realized different gains previously. Such operations could not push the Price Index down except in the last trading session of the week only, however was able to drag the Weighted Index and KSX-15 Index to the red zone in some of the daily sessions, especially KSX-15 Index, which was the only weekly loser. In addition, the market is currently living an optimistic state, which positively impacted the trading activity, as trading value reached its highest levels since February of last year. The same effect applies on the trading volume, which exceeded billion stock in last Tuesday and Wednesday sessions.
Moreover, the positive market performance came despite the watch state prevailing on many traders whom are waiting for the listed companies' last year financial results announcements, as many of them did not announce yet, although only two weeks of the provided legal period to announce are remaining.
For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 13.46% annual gain compared to its closing in 2012, while the weighted index increased by 3.84%, and the KSX-15 recorded 1.85% increase.
By the end of the week, the price index closed at 6,732.96 points, up by 2.41% from the week before closing, whereas the weighted index registered a 0.65% weekly gain after closing at 433.68 points. Moreover, the KSX-15 index closed at 1,027.71 points, decreasing with 0.29%.
Sectors' Indices
Ten of KSE's sectors ended last week in the green zone, while the other two recorded declines. Last week's highest gainer was the Technology sector, achieving 4.54% growth rate as its index closed at 1,098.31 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Financial Services sector's index closed at 1,000.97 points recording 4.23% increase. The Consumer Goods sector came in third as its index achieved 4% growth, ending the week at 999.18 points. The Insurance sector was the least growing as its index closed at 929.15 points with a 0.06% increase.
On the other hand, the Health Care sector headed the losers list as its index declined by 2.69% to end the week's activity at 1,007.58 points. The Consumer Services sector was second on the losers' list, which index declined by 0.40%, closing at 1,006.75 points.
Sectors' Activity
The Financial Services sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 1.82 billion shares changing hands, representing 39.43% of the total market trading volume. The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector's traded shares were 35.17% of last week's total trading volume, with a total of 1.62 billion shares.
On the other hand, the Financial Services sector's stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of KD 113.36 million or 34.85% of last week's total market trading value. The Real Estate sector took the second place as the sector's last week turnover of KD 83.53 million represented 25.68% of the total market trading value.
