COVID-19’s Impacts on the Kuwaiti Stock Market’s Performance

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on daily stock returns in Kuwait Stock Market (KSE) over the period from 28 March to 20 April 2020. By applying the event study methodology (ESM) approach, the results reveal that the pandemic has positively impacted stocks of banks, consumer goods and telecommunications sectors. However, oil & gas, real estate, financial, basic materials, industrials, consumer services, and insurance stocks have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic's most negatively affected are services and financial stocks. The cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) of all sectors were affected negatively by the COVID-19 pandemic.