Oil price drop sends Kuwait Stock Exchange into tailspin

Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended last week in the red zone, amid strong selling pressures due to traders' fear of a continued economic deterioration in light of the continued decline in oil prices, a specialized economic report showed Saturday.
The report, by Bayan Investment Company, stated that the Price Index closed at 6,985.89 points, down by 2.99 percent from the week before closing, the Weighted Index decreased by 1.99 percent after closing at 466.33 points, whereas the KSX-15 Index closed at 1,127.81 points, down by 1.90 percent.
Furthermore, last week's average daily turnover decreased by 15.35 percent, compared to the preceding week, reaching K.D 16.78 million, whereas trading volume average was 145.91 million shares, recording a decrease of 12.24 percent.
"The stock market indices recorded a grouped decline as a result of the strong selling pressures that affected most of the week's sessions, as many of the traded stocks during the week dropped, affected by the purchasing and liquidating operations witnessed by such stocks due to the traders' fear of a continued economic deterioration in light of the continued decline in oil prices, and its effect on the country's economy, and the Kuwait Stock Exchange in particular," reads the report.
"Also the stock market was negatively affected by the banned listed stocks from trading due to its delay in disclosing the 9 months financial results for the current year." In addition, Bayan argued that the stock market performance came in light with the selling pressures and the profit collection operations executed on many stocks, headed by the small-cap ones, as well as the refrain of some traders from purchasing due to the lack of the positive motivators that increase their morals, which negatively affected the daily trading activity that noticeably decreased compared to the previous week's activity, for both the value and the volume.
For the annual performance, the price index ended last week recording 7.47 percent annual loss compared to its closing in 2013, while the weighted index increased by 2.97 percent, and the KSX-15 recorded 5.56 percent growth.
The report unveiled that all of KSE's sectors ended last week in the red zone.
"Last week's biggest loser was the Telecommunications sector, as its index declined by 5.52 percent to end the week's activity at 645.14 points. Whereas, in the second place, the Financial Services sector's index closed at 939.34 points recording 4.49 percent decrease," it said.
"The Insurance sector came in third, as its index closed at 1,170.84 points at a loss of 3.67 percent. The Health Care sector was the least declining as its index closed at 986.01 points with a 0.57 percent decrease." Meanwhile, the data also showed that the Financial Services sector dominated total trade volume during last week with 374 million shares changing hands, representing 51.26 percent of the total market trading volume.
The Real Estate sector was second in terms of trading volume as the sector's traded shares were 20.63 percent of last week's total trading volume, with a total of 150.50 million shares.
On the other hand, the report added that the Banks sector's stocks were the highest traded in terms of value; with a turnover of K.D 30.97 million or 36.91 percent of last week's total market trading value. The Financial Services sector took the second place as the sector's last week turnover was K.D 22.15 million represented 26.40 percent of the total market trading value.