17/02/2011 00:00 AST
The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended Wednesday trade on a decline of 91.9 points to 6,559.5 points in the price index and weighted index decreased 6.45 points, reaching 458.66.
The trading session saw exchange of 200 million shares worth some 43.4 million Kuwaiti dinars, changing hands in 3,770 spot transactions.
Seven out of eight sectors indices ended in red.
Top gainer of the day is Arab Insurance Group.
The KSE price index started action Wednesday with decrease of 37.4 points by 9:25 am, reaching 6,614 points, while the weighted index also down 461.78 points at the time at a drop of 3.33 points.
The market saw 436 trades by that time, worth KD 4.4 million, and with 19.2 million shares changing hands.
On Tuesday, the price index saw a decline of 9.5 points to 6,651.4 points and weighted index decreased 0.78, reaching 465.1.
The KSE price index was losing at 11:30 am Wednesday, a decrease of 98.1 points to reach 6,553.3 points.
Meanwhile, the weighted index reduces to 7.47 points and reached 457.64 points.
Volume came to 159.6 million shares by that time, traded in 2,930 transactions worth about KD 35.5 million.
In other news, gulf Arab markets fell on Wednesday as a third day of unrest in Bahrain raised political risk premiums in the world's top oil exporting region.
"There is definitely some panic, as you can see in the markets today," said M.R. Raghu, Senior Vice President for research at Kuwait Financial Center (Markaz) in Kuwait. "The amount of uprising we are seeing in the Middle East is a serious concern for foreign investors. They are likely to pull more money from the markets to be on the safer side."
Thousands of Shia'a demonstrators, inspired by popular revolts that toppled rulers in Tunisia and Egypt, poured into Bahrain's capital to mourn for a second protestor killed in clashes this week, while the cost of insuring Bahrain's debt against default rose to a new 18-month high.
Egypt has postponed the re-opening of the Cairo bourse for a third time. It was slated to resume trading on Sunday, having been shut since Jan. 27 as demonstrations paralyzed the financial sector and led to the end of former president Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. The exchange will now only reopen when banks are working properly.
Saudi Arabia's index fell 1.8 percent to a two-week low as blue-chip stocks slid.
"Political risk wasn't much of a consideration for regional investors and they now see they may have to rebuild their portfolios to take this more into account," said Hesham Tuffaha, Bakheet Investment Group (BIG) Head of Research. "No one has a clear vision of what will happen."
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