Kuwait stocks close week with drastic losses over Yemen

29/03/2015 07:21 AST

The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week's trading with sharp losses involving all the three main indexes, with the Price Index having dipped 154 points, due to concerns over the current situation in Yemen, an economic report showed.

Kuwaiti stocks ended Thursday's session in the red zone, as the Weighted Index shed 10.13 points to reach 423.64 points, the Price Index dipped 154.03 points to read 6,222.46 and the Kuwait 15 Index lost 26.68 points to stand at 1,018.34 points, the report compiled by Al Oula Financial Brokerage Company showed here on Saturday.

This abysmal performance was the outgrowth of the fall in the activity of main portfolios and funds despite profit and cash distribution disclosures, as lack of technical incentives forced investors away, it said.

The KSE suspended trading on Monday over a wave of sharp falls, but the market witnessed an active buying trend later, buoyed by speculations in cheap shares, the report said.

Liquidity in Monday's session saw fresh drops by more than two percent compared to previous trading sessions as the value of shares amounted to KD 12.2 million. But, liquidity hit low levels on Tuesday, with the value having recorded roughly KD 8.2 million, it added. Tuesday's liquidity recorded the lowest level in 2015, reflecting low purchasing powers and investors' pessimism, the report noted.

Last week's trading was overshadowed by public discussions at the National Assembly on possible amendments to the Capital Markets Authority's law, said the report of the Al Oula Financial Brokerage Company.

Sale pressure involving major and small shares rendered leading market-makers more reluctant to seek purchase orders, given that most of the Gulf stock markets sharply dipped and that there were no technical incentives, it concluded.

KUNA