KAMCO Invest: Kuwait Stock Exchange is the third best in the...

(MENAFN – Al-Anbaa) A report issued by Kamco Invest said that in light of the broad-based recovery in the markets, all Gulf stock markets rose in September 2020, except for Oman, registering growth for the sixth month in a row. Saudi Arabia came in the lead with the best monthly performance, registering 4.5% growth, followed by Bahrain and Kuwait with growth of 3.9% and 2.9%, respectively, while the gains in the UAE markets were relatively marginal, while the MSM 30 index fell 4.2%. This decline also led to the loss of the Muscat Market to the top position on the list of the best performing markets from the beginning of the year 2020 to date, with its losses now reaching 9.2%, to occupy the third position as the lowest decline in the GCC countries. On the other hand, the successive gains recorded by the Saudi market enabled the Saudi market to fully compensate for the losses it witnessed against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, as its rate of decline now reaches only 1.1% since the beginning of the year 2020 until the date, and the Qatar Stock Exchange followed in second place with a decline of about 4.2% since the beginning of the year.
The report added that the sectoral performance in general rose in light of the growth of all sectoral indicators in the Gulf, with the exception of the energy sector index, which recorded a marginal decline of 0.3% after witnessing gains during the month. The long-term commodity sector index recorded the highest monthly gain of 23.5%, followed by the retail and insurance sector indices with gains of 10.2% and 9.4%, respectively. In terms of performance from the beginning of the year 2020 to date, the food and drug sector index maintained its top position as the best performance sectoral indicators with a growth of 61.3%, followed by the long-term commodity, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors indices with gains of 55.5% and 36.8%, respectively, from the beginning of 2020 to date. This indicates the availability of growth opportunities and the resilience of these sectors in the face of the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, the performance of global indicators reflected the resurgence of COVID-19 cases all over the world during September 2020, and new measures were taken to limit the spread of the virus. Almost all major global indices declined during the month, resulting in the MSCI World Index falling 3.6%. The US market also fell 3.9%, while emerging markets such as China and Russia witnessed a larger decline of 5.2% and 6.4%, respectively.
Returning to the Kuwait Stock Exchange, it continued to record gains for the second month in a row in September 2020, as all four major indices witnessed gains during the month. However, the gains were mainly concentrated within the main market, as the main 50 index rose by 3.3% during the month, against the first market index and the main market index recording gains of 2.8%, which contributed to improving the performance of the general market index by 2.9%. However, the announcement of the news of the death of the late God Almighty, His Highness the Emir of the country led to selling pressure in the session of September 29, 2020. The performance has also improved since the beginning of the year 2020 to date, as the rate of decline of the first market index decreased to 13.7%, while the main market index recorded a decrease. 12.4%, which led to a 13.3% decline in the general market index. The month also saw the listing of Boursa Kuwait Company’s shares in the first market, as the share price increased by 10 times on the first day of the listing.
Trading activities continued its strong performance during September 2020. The volume of shares traded witnessed the highest rate of increase recorded since February 2017, as the volume of shares traded in September reached 8.3 billion shares compared to 3.8 billion shares in August 2020. The total value of shares traded during the month was the highest since January 2017, which amounted to 1.1 billion dinars in September 2020, compared to 690.8 million dinars in the previous month. Kuwait Finance House’s share came to the fore in terms of the value of the traded shares during the month, with transactions worth 171 million dinars on the bank’s shares during the month, followed by the National Bank of Kuwait and Ahli United Bank – Bahrain, with transactions amounting to 91.6 million Kuwaiti dinars and 75.2 million dinars. Respectively.
As for the performance of various market sectors, the insurance sector index witnessed the highest monthly gain, with a growth of 8.3%, thanks to the growth in the share price of Gulf Insurance Group by 16.8%, and the share of the Kuwaiti Reinsurance Company by 13.3%. These gains contributed to offsetting the decline in the shares of Warba Insurance Company (-7.1%) and the First Takaful Insurance Company (-7.3%). The real estate sector index followed with gains of 8.1%, then the industrial sector and oil and gas sector indices with monthly gains of 4.2% and 3.7%, respectively. The gains in the real estate sector index were mainly attributed to the positive performance of most of the stocks listed within the sector, as the decline was limited to a small number of small companies’ shares in light of the economy’s tendency to gradually restore its normal conditions after the closure of business activities to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus.MENAFN0410202001300000ID1100902510