Kuwaiti stocks on Tuesday rallied past the 15,000-point mark for the first time on positive first quarter results and cashflow, traders said. The Kuwait Stock Exchange Index finished at 15,040.60 points -- up 0.3 percent on Monday's close and 1.9 percent above last week's figure. The index is now 19.8 percent higher than its 2007 close of 12,558.90, AFP reported.
According to KUNA, stock trading started on Wednesday with an upward trend with the price index putting on 26.3 points, bringing the level to 15,066.9 points.
Traders said the market, which has been rising steadily since the outset of the year, continues to prosper on positive first quarter earnings, abundant liquidity and increased public spending. Kuwait reported record revenues of US$72 billion dollars in the past fiscal year on the back of high oil prices.
On Tuesday, the bourse showed a rise of 41.6 points. Volume of the traded stocks reached 460.5 million, valued at KD 192.4 million, for up to 10,516 spot deals.
Index of the services sector climbed to 300.6 points, that of industries, 192.6, insurance, 66.1, real-estate, 2.6, and food, 1.6 and the inndex of the non-Kuwaiti companies shed 168.9 points, that of invetsments, 117.5, and banking, 29.6. The KSE, which lists 194 Kuwaiti and foreign firms, is the second largest in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia, and has a capitalisation of more than US$238 billion.
© 2008 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
