Kuwait’s stocks nudge higher; volume shrinks
Agility surges 12 fils; Zain dips
KUWAIT CITY, June 3: Kuwait stocks nudged higher on Sunday to kick off month on a firm note. The price index climbed 11.16 points in a lackluster trade to close at 4,746.88 points. Some of the banks saw modest uptick whereas other blue chips closed mixed.
The Premier Market index rose 19.480 points to 4,710.03 points. The Main Market lost 3.88 points. The volume turnover meanwhile dwindled on the first trading day of the month. 38.5 million shares changed hands, a drop of 51.65 percent from the previous session.
The sectors diverged during the session. Consumer services outshone with 1.0 percent gain while oil & gas slipped 0.39 percent to end the day as the worst performer. In terms of volume, banks mustered the highest market share of 33.69 percent while financial services and real estate trailed far behind with 25.21 percent and 18.03 percent contributions respectively.
The best performer was Massaleh Real Estate Co, which spiked 9.91 percent while Boubyan International Industries Holding Co surged 7.02 percent to stand next. Sharjah Cement and Industrial Dev Co sank 9.09 percent to end as the top loser. Boubyan Bank topped the volume with 3.4 million shares.
Among the notable movers, Agility surged 12 fils while Ooredoo advanced 9 fils to close at KD 0.869. KFH and Boubyan Bank rose 6 fils and 9 fils respectively. Zain shed 2 fils after trading 2.3 million shares.
The banking sector ended with slight gains as AUB rose 3 fils while NBK dialed up 1 fils on the back of 2.5 million shares. ABK advanced 5 fils to KD 0.325. Gulf Bank and Burgan Bank shed 6 fils and 2 fils respectively while Warba Bank and KIB trimmed 1 fils each.
The market opened firm and ticked higher in early trade. The All Share Index moved flat for most part of the trading before slipping into negative territory. It however, clawed back in the final moments to close with slight gains
Mabanee Co added 2 fils to pare back its loses in the last session whereas Mezzan and Kuwait Projects Co lost 1 fils each to close at KD 0.705 and KD 0.239 respectively. National Industries Group and GFH Financial Group closed flat during this session.
Jazeera Airways rose 0.55 percent while Al Mazaya gained 2.62 percent. Soor Fuel Marketing Co and Oula Fuel Marketing Co nudged 4.84 percent and 0.75 percent higher respectively.
The market was slightly skewed toward the losers as 44 stocks closed lower whereas 41 advanced. Of the
108 counters active on Sunday, 23 closed flat. 2,343 deals worth KD 8.7 million were transacted, a sharp drop of 52.73 percent in value from the previous session.
Heavy Engineering Industrise and Ship Building Co plummets 3.64 percent while Kuwait National Cinema fell 0.49 percent to KD 1.020. Kuwait Investment Co and Al-Aman Investment Co dropped 5.5 percent and 7.24 percent respectively.
Arabi Holding Group gained 3.47 percent after Co announced results of its General meeting last week. Shareholders agreed not to distribute dividend for the financial year.
Sultan Center Food Products Co was up 2.94 percent. Real Estate Trade Centers Co added 5 percent to close at 21 fils while Kuwait Real Estate Co inched 1.07 percent higher on the back of 2.6 million shares.
National Real Estate Co was down 2.83 percent to KD 0.103. Mashaer Holding Co dipped 6.52 percent while OSOS Holding Group Co shed 3.8 percent. Al Madar Finance and Investment Co lost 5.14 percent to 70.1 fils while Gulf North Africa Holding Co was down 5.21 percent. Humansoft shares did not budge during this session.
VIVA closed 4 fils down while Combined Group Contracting Co and Inovest eased 2 fils and 1 fil respectively. Tamkeen Holding surged 35.14 percent in thin trading to settle at 15 fils.
The market was largely mixed during last week. The index has dropped 59 points last month and trading 25.92 percent down year-till-date. Boursa Kuwait is the second largest market in the region with 175 listed stocks.