KSE bounces as oil prices rise, national portfolio interferes

The rise of oil prices and purchase deals led by the national portfolio targeting operational shares, and the return of general confidence have pushed the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) up over the trading week that ended on Thursday, experts said.
Over the past three sessions, KSE have witnessed a host of catalysts that led the trading on all shares gradually up, particularly Kuwait KSX 15, which led many sectors to the green zone.
In December, several companies and their investment portfolios have seen a purchase boom, toward the annual closing of balance sheets, they argued.
Stock market expert Mohammad Al-Hajri, said KSE's last three sessions have been influenced by external factors, namely the rise in oil prices on the world level and a climb-up in other Gulf markets.
The support by the national portfolio restored balance to the market and was a major domestic supporter, he told KUNA.
For Al-Hajri, the increase of liquidity resulting from selective buying by top investment portfolios and funds, as well as profit-taking, have been chief characteristics of the trading week. Investors sought liquidity for the coming week, he explained.
The economic boom in the country, manifested in development projects, and the confidence by the national portfolio in the leading companies backed the market over the week, following sharp decline in November and early December, economist Mohammad Al-Tarrah, chairman of the Traders Group, told KUNA. Government intervention saved the situation, he said.
Al-Tarrah noted how fragile stock markets are to domestic and external changes, especially small investors whose move are random most of the time, easily as they are impacted by speculators' rumors.
The market has achieved a noticeable rise over the week after traders were assured by the national portfolio, a strategic investor that restored confidence and gave impetus to the market as a whole, analyst Adnan Al-Deilaim, chairman of Mena Financial and Economic Consultancy firm told KUNA.
Al-Deilaim expects the market will continue the trend, a "well-contemplatedrising" by leading shares, to have a happy end of the year's trading, compared with 2013.
The KSE ended Thursday's session on mixed board as the price index rose by 31 points reaching 6,577 points, while the weighted index dropped 1.9 points and the KSX 15 lost 11.8 points.
Some 38.6 million shares were traded valued nearly KD 27 million through 8,354 transactions.