Kuwait stocks kick off month with down tick

KFH slips 4 fils, Mabanee Co rises

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 3: Kuwait stocks sagged on Sunday as it kicked off the month on a sour note. The All Shares Index fell 7.59 points in choppy trade to 5,709.74 pts extending the losses to third straight session even as majority of blue chips closed in green turf.

The Premier Market dropped 14.73 pts to 6,196.40 points while Main Market was up 7.3 pts at 4765.27 points. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped to a 10day low. Over 105 million shares changed hands – a 21 pct fall from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Insurance outpaced the rest with 0.78 pct gain whereas Consumer Goods shed 1.82 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 61 million shares while value wise, Banks were ahead with over KD 5 million shares.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait fell 2 fils to 939 fils while Kuwait Finance House gave up 4 fils before closing at 680 fils with a volume of 1,4 million. Jazeera Airways extended last session’s losses with 11 fils fall to KD 1.089.

Zain slipped 4 fils to 565 fils after pushing 3.4 million shares while Ooredoo stood pat at 745 fils with thin trading. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) gave up 9 fils before settling at 751 fils and Agility tripped 1 fil to close at 750 fils. Humansoft Holding dropped 15 fils to KD 3.090.

The market opened firm and ticked up to peak at 7214 points. The main index flipped and headed lower in choppy trade to plumb the day’s lowest level of 7180 points as sentiment turned soggy. It meandered listlessly thereafter before closing with small losses.

Top gainer of the day, Educational Holding Group jumped 30.94 percent to 419 fils while Safat Energy skidded 15.8 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Arzan topped the volume with over 20 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s downtick, the losers slightly outnumbered the winners. 52 stocks advanced whereas 55 closed lower. Of the 125 active on Sunday, 18 closed flat. 4,221 deals worth KD 12.2 million were transacted during the session.

National Industries Group took in 2 fils while Mezzan Holding sprinted 9 fils to 548 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co climbed 10 fils to 750 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co stood pat at 307 fils. Integrated Holding Co too was unchanged at 450 fils and NICBM followed suit.

Gulf Cable dropped 10 fils to 477 fils while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co added 3 fils before closing at 408 fils. ALAFCO was unchanged at 270 fils and NAPESCO too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 1.085.

Kuwait Portland Cement and Kuwait Cement Co were flat at KD 1.100 and 245 fils respectively whereas QIC fell 0.9 fil to 61.9 fils. Gulf Cement Co

and AGHC held ground at 58 fils and 207 fils respectively. Ras Al Khaimah White Cement Co was down 5.4 fils at 61 fils.

ACICO Industries gained 5 fils. Gulf Petroleum Investment Co tripped 0.2 fil to end at 17.6 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts gave up 4.4 fils to end at a 46.6 fils and Mashaer Holding took in 0.5 fil. KPPC closed 1.4 fils below the rim and Al Rai Media Group dialed up 2.5 fils.

Kuwait National Cinema Co sprinted 30 fils to 850 and UPAC climbed 39 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co took in 2 fil and KGL Logistics eased 0.2 fils to 34.8 fils. Equipment Holding Co added 0.9 fil and Salbookh ticked 0.7 fil into red.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank took in 2 fils on back of over 4 million shares while Boubyan Bank slipped 7 fils to 555 fils. Kuwait International Bank rose 3 fils to 268 fils and Burgan Bank followed suit after trading 1.2 million shares.

Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were unchanged at 505 fils and 290 fils respectively whereas Al Mutahed clipped 2 fils. Ahli United Bank inched 1 fil up on back of over 3 million shares while Warba Bank took in 2 fils.

KIPCO ticked 1 fil higher to 220 fils while Gulf Finance House dialed up 0.3 fil. Kuwait Investment Co and FACIL were unchanged at 135 fils and

201 fils respectively whereas National Investment Co tripped 1 fil. Coast Investment Co and Securities House added 0.1 fil each and ALOLA eased 0.1 fil to 28.9 fils.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) rose 1.1 fils to 88.5 fils and KMEFIC rallied 6.5 fils on back of 3.5 million shares. NIH fell 2.9 fils to 61 fils and Aayan took in 1 fil. Madar rose 4 fils to 140 fils after pushing 4.7 million shares and Unicap dialed up 1.2 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co sprinted 6 fils to 137 fils on back of 1.7 million shares and Al Imtiaz ticked 1 fil up to 126 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co gained 10 fils and Gulf Insurance Co gave up 5 fils with thin trading. Sokouk Holding trimmed 30 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co climbed 10 fils to 320 fils.

Mabanee Co rose 3 fils to 775 fils and Kuwait Real Estate Co tripped 0.2 fils. United Real Estate Co gave up 1.5 fils while Tamdeen Real Estate and Al Aqaria paused at 280 fils and 24.5 fils respectively.

The bourse was largely downbeat during last week. The main index closed lower in three of the five session shedding 52 points week-onweek. It had gained 39 points during the whole of October and is trading 604 pts higher year-to-date. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.