Kuwaiti bourse slumps amid ‘surge’ in volume
KFH skids 24 fils, Ooredoo gains
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 16: Kuwait stocks slumped on Monday extending the losses to fourth straight session. The All Shares Index skidded 92.52 points to 5,632.79 pts led by blue chips even as news of drone attack on Saudi oil facility weighed on the sentiment.
The Premier Market tumbled 133.93 points to 6,100.57 pts taking the month’s losses to 427 points while Main Market was down 6.7 points at 4,726.82 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded following last session’s drop. Over 159 million shares changed hands – a 43 pct surge from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Consumer Goods outpaced the rest gaining 0.76 pct whereas Oil and Gas shed 5.35 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, banks topped with 78.7 million shares and the sector outled the rest with KD 31.82 million.
Among the notable losers, Kuwait Finance House slid 24 fils to 666 fils with a volume of 16.3 million while National Bank of Kuwait was down 8 fils at 934 fils. Mabanee Co dipped 18 fils to 724 fils and Humansoft Holding skidded 71 fils to KD 3.060. NAPESCO dived 50 fils to KD 1.050.
Shares
Zain slipped 8 fils to 527 fils after trading 3.2 million shares and is down 38 fils so far during the month while Ooredoo climbed 6 fils to 716 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) clipped 2 fils and Agility slid 24 fils to 692 fils with a volume of 3.8 million.
The market opened firm and drifted sideways in early trade. The main index headed south thereafter amid selling in most of the heavyweight counters and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,604 points past the mid-session. It moved slightly higher in the final minutes before closing with hefty losses.
Top gainer of the day, Munshaat rallied 9.9 pct to 77.7 fils and Gulf Cement Co climbed 8.3 percent to stand next. Hilal Cement Co skidded 10 pct, the steepest decliner of the day while Ahli United Bank topped the volume with over 39 million shares.
Mirroring the day’s tumble, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the losers. 31 stocks advanced whereas 73 closed lower. Of the 118 counters active on Monday, 14 closed flat. 7,285 deals worth KD 42.9 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group fell 2 fils to 220 fils after trading over 4 million shares while Mezzan Holding climbed 7 fils to 597 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co fell 4 fils to 769 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was down 5 fils at 335 fils. Integrated Holding Co dialed down 2 fils before ending at 386 fils.
Jazeera Airways was flat at 967 fils and ALAFCO clipped 2 fils before ending at 258 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts added 2.9 fils and Mashaer Holding ticked 0.1 fil lower to 47.9 fils. EK Holding sprinted 30 fils to 455 fils and Inovest was up 3.2 fils at 66 fils.
Kuwait Portland Cement Co slipped 4 fils to KD 1.195 and ACICO Industries was up 6 fils at 144 fils with razor thin trade. Hilal Cement shed 10 fils before ending at 90 fils and Sharjah Cement
Co trimmed 2.8 fils. Fujairah Cement clipped 2 fils to wind up at 49 fils.
Kuwait Foundry Co was flat at 419 fils and Independent Petroleum Group skidded 48 fils to 435 fils. Equipment Holding tripped 0.2 fil and Salbookh Trading edged 0.9 fil lower to 41.9 fils. KPPC fell 1.9 fils and Gulf Petroleum Investment Co gave up 0.7 fil.
Combined Group Contracting Co fell 3 fils to 229 fils and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co followed suit to close at 397 fils. Al Rai Media Group dialed up 2 fils whereas SPEC slipped 2.3 fils to 70 fils. Masaken rose 4.6 fils to 74 fils.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank dropped 5 fils to 285 fils after pushing 5.8 million shares at the counter while Kuwait International Bank gave up 4 fils. Burgan Bank trimmed 1 fil and Boubyan Bank was down 6 fils at 531 fils.
Commercial Bank eased 1 fil to 500 fils and Al Ahli Bank shed 11 fils. Al Mutahed clipped 2 fils and Warba Bank inched 1 fil into red with a volume of over 3 million. Ahli United Bank dipped 15 fils after posting heavy trading.
KIPCO slipped 6 fils to 223 fils after moving 3.3 million shares during the session whereas Gulf Finance House
dialed down 0.8 fil. FACIL fell 2 fils to 196 fils and Kuwait Investment Co ticked 1 fil into red. International Financial Advisors edged 0.4 fil lower.
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) fell 3 fils to 95 fils while KMEFIC and Al Aman were down 0.9 fil each before settling at 94 fils and 55.8 fils respectively. ALOLA tripped 0.5 fil and GIH closed 2.6 fils higher. Aayan trimmed 0.7 fil and International Financial Advisors ticked 0.4 fil down.
Bayan Investment Co was flat at 41.8 fils while Al Deera Holding and Al Salam tripped 0.3 fil each. KFIC fell 0.8 fil while Tamdeen Investment and Sokouk Holding stood pat at 325 fils and 32.5 fils respectively. Unicap rose 3 fils to 45 fils and Al Imtiaz eased 1 fil to 126 fils.
Kuwait Real Estate trimmed 1 fil after trading over 3 million shares and National Real Estate fell 1.8 fils to 80 fils. Al Aqaria gave up 2.4 fils and Mazaya Holding added 0.5 fil to settle at 53.3 fils.
The bourse has been downbeat so far during the week shedding 112 points in last two sessions. It has tumbled 309 pts so far during the month and is trading 552 pts higher year-to-date. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.