Kuwait slips in choppy session; volume swells
CBK shed 20 fils, NAPESCO gains
KUWAIT CITY, Dec 12: Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Wednesday following last session’s modest gains. The All Shares Index dropped 19.85 pts in choppy session to 5,151.46 points weighed by some of the banks and other blue chips even as the broader mood remained dull.
The Prime Market shed 18.79 pts to 5,388.07 points and Main Market was down 21.44 points at 4,720.50 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose slightly after 4-day drop. Over 88 million shares changed hands - 1 5 pct rise from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Oil and gas outpaced the rest with 0.33 pct gain whereas banks shed 0.64 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise financial services accounted for the highest market share of 34.2 percent and banks trailed with 27.6 pct contribution.
Among notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 4 fils to 833 fils with a volume of 2.3 million and Gulf Bank followed suit to end at 272 fils. Commercial Bank shed 20 fils erasing Tuesday’s gains and Humansoft Holding slid 20 fils to KD 3.355.
The market opened firm and edged lower in early trade. The main index ticked up and drifted sideways well past the mid session amid mixed sentiment before heading south in the final hour to close with small losses.
Top gainer of the day, MENA Holding jumped 10 pct to 34.1 fils and Warba Insurance climbed 6.5 percent to stand next. Yiaco Medical skidded 9.3 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Gulf Petroleum topped the volume with over 13 million shares
Mirroring the day’s drop, the losers outnumbered the winners. 31 stocks advanced whereas 53 closed lower. Of the 114 counters active on Wednesday, 30 closed flat. 3,808 deals worth KD 15.9 million were transacted – down 19.75 pct in value from the day before.
National Industries Group dialed up 1 fil on back of 3.2 million shares and Mezzan Holding clipped 2 fils extending Tuesday’s losses. Boubyan Petrochemical rose 3 fils to KD 1.031 while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co gave up 4 fils.
Jazeera Airways dropped 6 fils to 729 fils and ALAFCO tripped 1 fil to end at 356 fils. Equipment Holding Co trimmed 0.6 fil and NICBM inched 1 fil into red. BIIHC dialed up .2 fil on back of over 1 million shares and Independent Petroleum Group gained 10 fils.
Kuwait Portland Cement took in 1 fil and Kuwait Foundry Co stood pat at 180 fils. Safat Energy slipped 2.3 fils to 27.7 fils and Automated Systems Co paused at 108 fils. Mashaer Holding edged 0.5 fil higher to 44.5 fils and Soor Fuel clipped 2 fils.
NAPESCO rose 4 fils to 874 fils and Kuwait National Cinema Co gained 15 fils and Gulf Cable held ground at 368 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co fell 1.5 fils to 94.5 fils and KGL Logistics was unchanged at 40.5 fils. KCPC climbed 5 fils to 235 fils and KPPC closed flat.
In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House was flat at 617 fils after trading 3.3 million shares and Boubyan Bank followed suit to wind up at 585 fils. Burgan Bank slipped 5 fils to 285 fils and Ahli United Bank clipped 2 fils. Al Mutahed stood pat at 300 fils.
Warba Bank ticked 1 fil into red and Al Ahli Bank paused at 299 fils. ABK has registered a 35% jump in third quarter profits to KD 7.94 million) in from KD 5.88 mln in same period last year.
KIPCO eased 1 fil to 210 fils and GFH trimmed 0.3 fil to settle at 93 fils. Kuwait Investment Co fell 2 fils to 135 fils whereas National Investment Co and Arzan were unchanged at 83.4 fils and 30 fils respectively. Securities House Co trimmed 0.3 fil.
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) and Al Mal Investment were flat at 100 fils and 21.5 fils respectively whereas Aayan Investment edged 0.3 fil higher. Coast Investment Co fell 2.5 fils to 31.7 fils and NIH added 3 fils to wind up at 62 fils.
Bayan Investment Co and Madar Finance were unchanged at 48.7 fils and 154 fils respectively whereas Unicap dialed up 1.4 fils. Al Deera Holding trimmed 0.7 fil and Ektittab Holding inched 1 fil lower.
Noor Financial Investment dialed up 2 fils to close at 65 fils and Sukouk Holding edged 0.5 fil higher. Al Imtiaz paused at 129 fils and Warba Insurance Co gained 4.1 fils. First Takaful slipped 4 fils to 46 fils.
Mabanee Co slipped 4 fils to 622 fils and Kuwait Real Estate tripped 0.6 fil. National Real Estate Co was unchanged at 93.4 fils and AREEC climbed 8 fils to 142 fils. United Real Estate took in 1 fil.
The bourse has been trending mostly lower so far during the week dropping 30 points in last four sessions and has rallied 44 points so far during the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.
In the bourse related news, Qurain Petrochemical Industries has recorded a profit of KD 4.41 million in the quarter ended 30 Sept as against KD 4.39 million in the same period last year, a 0.5 pct year-on-year rise. In the 6-month period ended 30 Sept, the earnings dropped 9 pct to KD 9.61 million.