Kuwait market kicks off week on ‘sluggish’ note By John Mathews
NBK dips 15 fils, AGHC soars
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 20: Kuwait stocks slipped into red on Sunday as it opened the week on a weak footing. The All Shares Index dropped 29.61 points in sluggish trade to 5,737.12 pts weighed by some of the heavyweights even as some of the mid- caps shone.
The Premier Market slid 47.64 pts to 6,252.02 points trimming the month’s gains to 78 points while Main Market rose 7.89 points to 4,733.52 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded following Thursday’s dip. Over 126 million shares changed hands – a 53 pct surge from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Insurance outshone the rest with 1.76 pct gain whereas Oil and Gas shed 0.94 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 71 million shares while in value terms Banking sector dominated with over KD 8 million.
In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 15 fils to 938 fils after trading 1.2 million shares while Kuwait Finance House was down 7 fils at 689 fils with a volume of 6.4 million. Humansoft Holding gave up 8 fils before closing at KD 3.110.
Zain eased 1 fil to 566 fils after trading 1.4 million shares and has gained 28 fils so far during the month while Ooredoo climbed 9 fils to 727 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) rose 3 fils to 752 fils and Agility tripped 1 fil before ending at 752 fils.
The market opened on a tame note and ticked slightly higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 5764 pts and drifted lower as sentiment turned dull. It meandered in a narrow range before heading south in final minutes to close with moderate losses.
Top gainer of the day, AGHC soared 66.4 pct to 223 fils and Manazel rallied 26.9 percent to stand next. Amar shed 10 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Aayan topped the volume with 27.6 million shares.
Despite the day’s drop, the market spread was even. 53 stocks advanced whereas 52 closed lower. Of the 124 counters active on Sunday, 19 closed flat. 4,502 deals worth KD 19.2 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group ticked 1 fil higher to 227 fils on back of 6.2 million shares while Integrated Holding stood pat at 464 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co fell 4 fils to 568 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical was up 5 fils at 311 fils. Mashaer Holding dialed up 1.5 fils before ending at 69.5 fils.
Jazeera Airways rose 3 fils to 998 fils while ALAFCO gave up 2 fils before ending at 261 fils. AAN took in 0.3 fil and IFA Hotels and Resorts gave up 2.1 fils before settling at 54.8 fils. SPEC closed 3.3 fils below the rim
Kuwait Cement Co was flat at 265 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement fell 5 fils to KD 1.120. Fujairah Cement Co ticked 0.2 fil higher to 51.2 fils and Energy Holding Co eased 0.3 fil. KPPC stood pat at 50.5 fils and EK Holding slipped 6 fils to 494 fils.
Kuwait National Cinema Co climbed 27 fils to 780 fils and NICBM fell 3 fils. Equipment Holding Co inched 0.6 fil higher to 17.1 fils on back of over 1 million shares while Shuaiba Industrial shed 15 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co clipped 1 fil. Burgan Well Drilling Co was down 9.1 fils at 89 fils.
Combined Group Contracting Co was unchanged at 230 fils and UPAC gave up 5 fils before ending at 445 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co fell 3.4 fils to 66 fils and KGL Logistics inched 0.7 fil higher to 35.1 fils. Gulf Petroleum Investment Co took in 0.3 fil and UPAC was up 5 fils at 445 fils.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank fell 3 fils to 279 fils after trading 1.7 million shares and Kuwait International Bank clipped 2 fils with a volume of 1.8 million. Burgan Bank inched 1 fil into red and Boubyan Bank gave up 4 fils to close at 568 fils.
Commercial Bank ticked 1 fil higher to 501 fils with thin trading while Al Ahli Bank and Ahli United Bank paused at 298 fils and 277 fils respectively. Al Mutahed gave up 6 fils and Warba Bank ticked 1 fil into red.
National Investment Co dialed up 2 fils to close at 127 fils while Coast Investment Co and Securities House Co were unchanged at 31.5 fils and 41.5 fils respectively. Al Mal Investment tripped 0.7 fil and GIH was up 4 fils at 54 fils. FACIL edged 1 fil lower to 201 fils.
KAMCO fell 5 fils to 94 fils and KMEFIC climbed 4.1 fils to 68.8 fils. ALOLA took in 0.1 fil and Aayan dialed up 0.4 fil with brisk trading. Unicap rallied 8.9 fils to 46.9 and Madar ticked 1 fil up to 116 fils. Al Deera Holding took in 0.2 fil and Al Salam followed suit.
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) added 1.5 fils and KFIC tripped 0.7 fil before settling at 45.2 fils. Kuwait Investment Co dialed up 1 fil while International Financial Advisors inched 0.1 fil into green. Noor Financial took in 2.6 fils whereas Amwal and Al Imtiaz clipped 1 fil each.
Mabanee Co fell 2 fils to 761 fils while United Real Estate Co and Salhiya Real Estate Co paused at 61 fils and 331 fils respectively. Arkan sprinted 5.5 fils and Manazel climbed 7 fils to 33 fils.
The bourse was largely upbeat during last week. The main index closed higher in four of the five sessions gaining 61 points week-on-week. It has soared 57 points from start of the month and is trading 656 pts higher year-to-date. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.