The Kuwaiti stock exchange (KSE) ended the week on Wednesday, August 8, a mere 0.2 percent higher at 1,699.7 points. Since January, the KSE index rose 26 percent, yet it is still 40 percent lower than its all-time high of November 1997, according to AFP news agency.
The KSE index has been consistently rising in the past several months, due to general investors optimism and positive corporate results for the first half the year.
Total trading volume for the week reached slightly below $30 million, almost two-fold last year’s trading volume of $16 million. However, it is still well below the average of $42 million in the first half of the 2001, and the $134 million trading volume average in 1997.
The Kuwaiti bourse is the second largest capitalized in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia. Total Capital rose by approximately 30 percent to $26 billion since January, yet the figure was highest in 1997 at $30 billion. —(Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
