Kuwait bourse closes in red; volume swells

Humansoft Holding skids 98 fils; Agility up

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, July 30: Kuwait stocks pulled slightly lower on Monday extending the downtick from the previous session. The All Shares Index fell 7.94 pts in choppy session to 5,214.58 points weighed by Humansoft and some of the blue chips. The overall mood however remained tepid.

The Premier Market dipped 24.69 points to 5,363.92 pts paring the month’s gains to 459 points while Main Market climbed 22.61 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile swelled past the 100 million mark. Over 115 million shares changed hands — a 26 percent surge from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Technology outshone the rest with 6.15 pct gain whereas telecommunication shed 1.49 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, banks accounted for the highest market share of 49 percent and financial services trailed with 16.2 pct contribution.

Among the notable losers, Humansoft Holding tumbled 98 fils to KD 3.501 and NAPESCO dipped 21 fils to 861 fils. Kuwait Finance House shed 10 fils after trading over 12 million shares and Kuwait Portland Cement Co slid 25 fils.

Zain shed 9 fils with a volume of over 5 million nearly erasing Sunday’s gains and Ooredoo gave up 4 fils to wind up at 776 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) slipped 6 fils to 736 fils and Agility extended last session’s gains with a 13 fils jump to 848 fils.

Gulf Bnak gained 10 fils and National Bank of Kuwait inched 1 fil down. NBK has reported a 16.4 pct increase in profits to KD 92.26 million during the second quarter.

Firm

The market opened firm and ticked briefly up to scale the day’s highest level of 5,202 pts and fell sharply. The main index seesawed thereafter and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,202 pts and clawed back most of the losses in the second half before closing slightly in red.

Top gainer of the day, Sanam Real Estate spiked 9.8 pct to 34.7 fils and FutureKid climbed 7.8 percent to stand next. Marakez slid 11.25 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Gulf Bank topped the volume with 20.9 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s downtick, the losers outnumbered winners. 48 stocks advanced whereas 60 closed lower. Of the 130 counters active on Monday, 21 closed flat. 5482 deals worth KD 31.4 million were transacted — a 54.9 pct jump in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was flat at 160 fils and Mezzan Holding gave up 3 fils before closing at 723 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co was unchanged at 930 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co dialed up 2 fils.

Jazeera Airways climbed 5 fils to 755 fils and ALAFCO was up 4 fils at 368 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co shed 6 fils and Equipment Holding Co ticked 0.7 fil into green. NICBM fell 3 fils to 171 fils.

Kuwait National Cinema Co slipped 3 fils to KD 1.042 and Gulf Cable dialed up 1 fil. OSOS added 0.5fils and Mashaer Holding ticked 0.3 fil into green. Independent Petroleum Group dipped 9 fils to 440 fils.

Burgan Well Drilling Co inched 0.1 fil higher to 87 fils and Automated Systems Co gained 8 fils. KCPC rallied 7 fils on back of 1.7 million shares and KPPC took in 0.2 fil.

Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co fell 2 fils to 109 fils and KGL Logistics trimmed 0.2 fils. Al Rai Media Group added 1.2 fils and Inovest was up 0.8 fil at 83 fils.

In the banking sector, Commercial Bank rallied 19 fils to 520 fils partly recouping last session’s losses while Burgan Bank and Boubyan Bank stood pat at 279 fils and 516 fils respectively.

Al Ahli Bank gained 18 fils and Al Mutahed paused at 308 fils. Kuwait International Bank ticked 1 fil up to 257 fils while Warba Bank eased 1 fils. Ahli United bank fell 3 fils to 214 fils.

KIPCO and National Investment Co were flat at 239 fils and 92.5 fils respectively whereas Kuwait Investment Co clipped 1 fils. International Financial Advisors was unchanged at 26 fils. Osoul clipped 2 fils before closing at 55.5 fils.

KAMCO fell 2.5 fils to 73 fils and Securities House inched 0.3 fil into red. Al Mal Investment eased 0.6 fils while Al Aman dialed down 2 fils. Ektittab Holding took in 0.4 fil and Amwal ticked 0.2 fil into red. Amwal Investment clipped 0.2 fil and Al Imtiaz eased 1 fil to 135 fils.

Bayan Investment climbed 3 fils to 47 fils while KFIC and KMEFIC held ground at 48.8 fils and 22 fils respecrtively. Unicap dialed up 2 fils and Sokouk Holding took in 1.1 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co gave up 2.4 fils to close at 53.1 fils. mwal Investment clipped 0.2 fil and Al Imtiaz eased 1 fil to 135 fils. Warba Insurance Co gained 5 fils to end at 69 fils.

Mabanee Co and Kuwait Real Estate were flat at 671 fils and 50 fils respectively whereas Mazaya Holding inched 0.1 fil higher. United Real Estate added 0.5 fil while National Real Estate Co and Salhiya Real Estate trimmed 1 fil each.

The market has been sluggish so far during the week, falling 12 points in last two sessions and has rallied 324 pts from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.