Business , Tuesday, Sep 15, 2020 | Muharram 27, 1442
Boursa Kuwait shares slide on second day of trading after a stellar debut
Boursa Kuwait shares slid 2.37 per cent on Tuesday, to close at 1,030 fils. It was the most active stock in terms of the number of trades and ended the day as the second-worst performer behind Warba Bank, which closed 3.8 per cent lower. The country's benchmark Premier Market closed 0.09 per cent higher.
“We think after a good debut on market … it is bound to see some profit taking, which we have witnessed today,” Hettish Karmani, head of research at Muscat-based U-Capital, said.
“In the long run, we believe it is a good stock and it is trading at a discount to its peers with a further push to trading values to come post inclusion by MSCI.”
Boursa Kuwait listing has come ahead of country’s stock market inclusion in the MSCI emerging market gauge at the end of this quarter. The upgrade, delayed by six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will make the bourse more accessible to international investors and will widen its investor base.
“We believe the Kuwait upgrade should bring in anywhere between $2.5 billion (Dh9.18bn) to $3bn in passive inflows with a weight [on the MSCI EM Index] ranging between 55-60 basis points," Mr Karmani said.
"The active flows will be probably even higher as the upgrade to emerging market status opens the country to a bigger pool of actively managed funds.”