Kuwaiti equities extend gains in volatile session
NBK rallies 18 fils, KIPCO flat
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 23: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Monday, extending the gains to third straight session. The All Shares Index rallied 52.29 points in a volatile session led by some of the heavyweights.
The Premier Market jumped 68.68 points to 6,253 pts paring the month’s losses to 274 points while Main Index climbed 18.53 points to 4,703.88 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a modest bounce following Sunday’s dip. Over 200 million shares changed hands – 10 pct rise from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in green. Consumer Goods outshone the rest with 1.69 pct gain whereas Basic Materials shed 0.56 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, banks topped with 111.37 million shares and the sector also dominated in value clocking KD 48.3 million during the session.
Among the prime movers, National Bank of Kuwait rallied 18 fils on back of 1.7 million shares to 964 fils paring the month’s losses to 28 fils while Boubyan Bank sprinted 21 fils to 570 fils with a volume of 1.8 million. Kuwait Foundry Co jumped 37 fils to 460 fils.
Zain rose 4 fils to 550 fils on back of 4.7 million shares while Ooredoo added 3 fils before settling at 718 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) stood pat at 745 fils and Agility ticked 1 fil higher to 736 fils with a volume of 1.9 million shares. Humansoft Holding climbed 16 fils to KD 3.091.
The market opened firm and headed north in early trade. The main index however flipped direction and slipped into red to bottom at 5689. It pulled up from the trough and drifted sideways before scaling the day’s highest level of 5,751 points past the mid-session. It sagged slightly in final minutes and closed with strong gains.
Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Foundry Co rallied 8.75 pct to 460 fils and KFIC climbed 7.53 pct to stand next. Gulf Cement Co skidded 11.9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with over 40 million shares.
Despite the day’s gains, the losers outnumbered the winners. 47 stocks advanced whereas 53 closed flat. Of the 116 counters active on Monday, 16 closed flat. 11,475 deals worth KD 89.14 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group rose 3 fils to 227 fils on back of 11.3 million and Mezzan Holding sprinted 7 fils to 582 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dipped 8 fils to 742 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gave up 3 fils before settling at 310 fils.
Jazeera Airways rose 4 fils to 972 fils and ALAFCO followed suit to end at 268 fils. Mashaer Holding took in 1.2 fils on back of over 2 million shares and EK Holding soared 28 fils to 438 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts paused at 47 flls and SPEC inched 0.5 fil higher to 72.5 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co tripped 1 fil and Kuwait Portland Cement Co was unchanged at KD 1.200. Ras Al Khaimah White Cement Co fell 0.9 fil to 61 fils and OSOS slipped 4 fils to 100 fils. Integrated Holding Co jumped 8 fils to 395 fils.
ACICO Industries took in 1 fil and Equipment Holding trimmed 1.1 fils before closing at 17.6 fils. KCPC clipped 2 fils and KPPC did not budge from its earlier close of 53.5 fils. Al Rai Media Group was down 1.9 fils at 37.6 fils.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co took in 0.5 fil and KGL Logistics easd 0.4 fil to 38.6 fils. Gulf Petroleum Investment closed flat at 22 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co gained 4.6 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co was unchanged at 223 fils.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank dialed up 2 fils on back of 18.5 million shares while Kuwait International Bank and Burgan Bank tripped 1 fil each after pushing over 5 million shares their counters. Warba Bank ticked 1 fil higher to 248 fils and the counter saw 3.3 million shares change hands.
Kuwait Finance House climbed 5 fils on back of over 28 million shares and Ahli United Bank took in 2 fils with brisk trading. Al Ahli Bank dialed up 2 fils and Al Mutahed sprinted 6 fils to 322 fils.
KIPCO was unchanged at 220 fils and Gulf Finance House edged 0.9 fil higher to 72.8 fils. Kuwait Investment Co and National Investment Co took in 1 fil each whereas FACIL gave up 4 fils before settling at 195 fils. International Financial Advisors ticked 0.2 fil into red.
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) trimmed 0.5 fil while Coast Investment Co and Securities House eased 0.1 fil each. Arzan tripped 0.3 fil to close at 25.7 fils after trading over 9 million shares. International Financial Advisors ticked 0.2 fil lower.
KMEFIC added 1.9 fils and Al Mal ticked 0.1 fil into red. GIH eased 0.2 fil to 47.8 fils and Aayan Investment inched 0.2 fil up on back of 6.3 million shares. Unicap clipped 0.5 fil and Madar Finance dialed up 2 fils to end at 110 fils.
KAMCO slipped 9 fils to 81 fils and Bayan Investment dialed down 0.9 fil. Noor Financial Investment added 1.9 fils and Al Imtiaz clipped 1 fil after moving 2.8 million shares. Warba Insurance Co gained 3.8 fils Mabanee Co climbed 6 fils to 760 fils and Tamdeen Real Estate shed 20 fils. Kuwait Real Estate trimmed 0.5 fil and National Real Estate was down 2.1 fils ay 79.6 fils. Aqar Real Estate took in 0.5 fil and Salhiya Real Estate fell 3 fils.
The bourse has been upbeat so far during the week sprinting 176 points in last two sessions. It has shed 213 pts so far during the month and is trading 649 pts higher year-to-date. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.