Lackluster atmosphere grips Kuwaiti bourse

Kuwaiti Economic figures have attributed lackluster state that gripped Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) at September's first session to several reasons namely the regional bleak atmosphere resulting from prospects of a military strike on Syria. They said, that today's trades were distinguished with corrections due to negative psychological reasons, noticeable since the past week sessions, thus resulting in focus on operational and leading stocks. They indicated that it was not clear why the KSE did not follow suit of the regional bourses as to stability, although listed companies declared positive financial results in the first half of 2013. Expert Salah Al-Sultan said international conditions, at present, do not result in pressures on the KSE, from a technical point of view, and that "the problem lies in external factors where the market is performing with caution for fear of incurring losses from hefty sales." Market liquidity is dropping gradually due to the developments, but will increase on Tuesday with the listing of the Islamic Warba Bank, in addition to forecast returns of government-funded development projects, Al-Sultan opined, adding that these factors will restore traders' confidence and motivate the companies to make their deals. Sulaiman Al-Wugayyan said traders at today's session were largely reluctant noting that a small number of dealers sold assets for fear of sudden drops, in shadow of the surrounding sensitive political conditions. The market is forecast to resist and the benchmark to settle at 7,800-7,900 points in case the current extraordinary regional conditions persist. Another economic expert, Adnan Al-Dulaimi, said a state of caution prevailed at the market in today's session, in addition to buyers' reluctance, citing as an evidence, drop of the monetary value of the done deals. Although the KSE indices have dropped, the market retains "substantial technical factors due to the traders' tilting towards the operational stocks."