KSE in red by last weekend's tradings

Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) closed tradings of the last week of the first half of this year on a dwindle, posting a retreat of its two main indexes, with the price index slipping by 0.83 percent, and weighted index plummeting by 0.52 percent, noted a specialized economic report on Saturday. The report, which was released by Bayan Investment Company, said that KSE entered into the stage of normal reservation by the end of the first half of the year in anticipation of the results of the listed companies, and in what caused a drop in the activity of tradings compared to the previous week. The average trading volume went down by 17.3 percent, while the average trading value slipped by 2.23 percent, the report said, noting that trading retreated last week under the continuing pressures of sell-off that affected its performance which was marked by vacillation, adding that five of KSE sectors posted a decline in its indexes, while the indexes of two sectors soared with the index of insurance sector remaining unchanged. KSE industrial sector came atop of profitable sectors with its index closing on a rally by 0.26 percent followed by the foodstuff sector which rose by 0.19 percent. Regarding the trading indexes, last week saw the tradings of 313.7 million shares through signing 6,557 deals at a total value amounting to KD 69.85 million, while the daily average of trading value hit KD 17.46 million, down from KD 17.86 million compared to the previous week. The daily trading average went down from 94.87 million shares to hit 78.42 million shares, while the daily average of the number of signed deals hit 1, 639 deals compared to 1,611 deals in the week before previous one, the report made clear. Further, he said the real estate sector was ranked first last week in terms of the trading volume with its traded shares hitting 77.73 million, and making up 24.78 percent of KSE total tradings. The service sector was ranked second in terms of the trading volume with its traded shares amounting to 67.69 million, and making up 21.58 percent of KSE total tradings. On the value of tradings, the banking sector occupied the first place as it hit KD 21.46 million, and accounted for 30.7 of the total market's tradings, while the services sector was ranked second by 25.2 percent with its values amounting to KD 17.6 million. The KSE capital value went down by 0.57 percent last week to hit KD 30.63 billion, while the capital value of six of KSE sectors retreated against the growth of foodstuff sector with the insurance sector remaining unchanged. The sector of non-Kuwaiti companies topped the list of retreating sectors with its capital value dwindling by 3.43 percent followed by the investment sector which had its value amounting to KD 2.41 billion, then the real estate sector came third and posted a retreat by one percent, while the services sector was the least declining sector with its capital value amounting to KD 7. 66 billion. Last June was the least liquid month to Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) during the first half of 2011 with the traded value hitting KD 359.8 million at a rate of 9.5 percent of the total traded value over the same period, another report by Al-Shall Consulting and Investment Company said. It added that last January achieved the highest liquidity as it amounted to KD 844.8 million and accounted for 22.4 percent of the total traded value during the first half of the year. KSE performance during the first half of 2011 was mixed compared to its performance during the first half of 2010, noting that the value of KSE general index rose, while the indexes on the value and volume traded shares as well as the number of signed deals went down. Second quarter of this year reversed the trend of the first one with the value of the general index dropping, while index of the value and volume of traded shares and the number of deals rallied. Last week which had four days of tradings only, due to the official holiday of the Prophet's Night Journey and Ascension, was mixed compared to the previous week which saw a rise in the signed deals, while the indexes on the value and volume of traded shares, and the value of general index posted a retreat. The latest reading of Al-Shall index, namely the value index, was by the end of tradings of last Wednesday, and it amounted to 486.2 points with a decline by 2.4 point, namely 0.5 percent compared to the previous week's closure, and with a decline hitting 91.6 point, namely 15.9 percent compared to closure of 2010. The second quarter closed on a capital value of 215 firms hitting KD 31.45 billion, but, when commenting on oil and public finance, it noted that by the end of last June the first quarter of current fiscal year (2011-12) comes to its end, while Kuwaiti crude prices remained high most the period, then they started to fall over the last two weeks, and went above the mark of USD one hundred. Prices may continue to plummet in the short run, the report added, noting that the average price of Kuwaiti crude per barrel in June hit USD 107, and so it amounted to USD 110 during the first quarter of this year, while the average during last April was the highest per Kuwaiti crude as it hit USD 115.6. Oil made a comeback to the stage of political face-off when Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rejected to increase its official output during its latest meeting last June in what was met with a decision by the International Energy Agency (IEA) releasing 60 million barrel of oil reserves over a period of thirty days for the agency's member states in what caused a swift drop in oil prices. The report said that it will be a mutual benefit for both consumers and producers to keep politics away from the oil market as much as possible, particularly on the part of producers as most of them rely on oil as a source of foreign currency, though consumers should believe that any price less than the equitable one will be a depletion of a precious natural wealth. The probable oil revenues of Kuwait for the current fiscal year may hit KD 24 billion, a value higher by some KD 11.7 billion compared to this estimated at the state budget, along with adding about KD 1.1 billion coming out of non-oil revenues, and consequently the total Kuwaiti revenues will amount to KD 25,1 billion. Comparing the above-mentioned figure to the allocations made for expenses which first amounted to KD 17.9 billion, then soared following approving other expenses and hit KD 19.43 billion, then the budget estimated surplus will hit KD 5.7 billion for the fiscal year (2011-12).