Boursa #Kuwait set for boost from index upgrade and oil sell-offs | Financial Times

Boursa Kuwait set for boost from index upgrade and oil sell-offs | Financial Times:

Kuwait’s stock exchange is encouraging state-owned oil companies to offer shares on the public market, a move aimed to open the country’s main economic sector — the oil and gas industry — to private investment.

The composition of the domestic stock market, Boursa Kuwait, does not currently reflect the central role of oil and gas in the state’s economy, which makes it less attractive for investors.

Of Boursa Kuwait’s 176 listed companies, nearly three-quarters of their weight as measured by market capitalisation are accounted for by banks, which contributed just 7.3 per cent of GDP last year, says Raghu Mandagolathur, research head at Markaz, a Kuwait-based asset manager. While nearly half of Kuwait’s GDP came from oil and gas companies, they account for less than 1 per cent of the local stock exchange’s market cap.