Kuwait bourse extends gains, volume recedes
Humansoft soars 100 fils, Zain slips
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 15: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Wednesday extending the gains to third straight session. The All Shares Index, after a shaky start, rose 18.37 pts to 6,351.6 points helped by some of the blue chips even as the broader sentiment remained mixed.
The Premier Market sprinted 28.45 pts to 7,089.98 points taking the month’s gains to 114 points while Main Market fell 2.58 pts to 4,886.45 points. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a drop following last session’s rise. Over 204 million shares changed hands – a 17 percent fall from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Banking sector outshone the rest with 0.59 percent gain whereas Healthcare slipped 0.85 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 84.6 million shares while in value, Banking dominated with KD 32.38 million.
Among the standout performers, National Bank of Kuwait continued it gaining spree with 9 fils rise to KD 1.097 on back of 7.9 million shares while Ahli United Bank rose 5 fils to 334 fils. Humansoft Holding soared 100 fils to KD 3.150 as it rebounded from Tuesday’s fall.
Zain slipped 5 fils to 594 fils after trading 5.7 million shares while Ooredoo inched 1 fil higher to 791 fils. STC climbed 7 fils to 775 fils after adding 56 fils during whole of December and Agility was down 6 fils at 809 fils.
The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index slipped into red to plumb the day’s lowest level of 7,052 points ahead of the mid-session. It rebounded amid renewed buying in some of the counters and peaked at 7,108 points before closing with modest gains.
Top gainer of the day, Al Aqaria soared 9.96 pct to 28.7 fils while Warbacap climbed 6.29 percent to stand next. Educational Holding tumbled 13.9 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and ALOLA topped the volume with 20.9 million shares.
Mirroring the day’s small gains, the winners slightly outnumbered the losers. 58 stocks advanced whereas 52 closed lower. Of the 130 counters active on Wednesday, 20 closed flat. 8,612 deals worth KD 53.6 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group rose 3 fils to 243 fils on back of over 16 million shares while Mezzan Holding geve up 3 fils before settling at 501 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co fell 3 fils to 674 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co clipped 2 fils. Integrated Holding was up 2 fils at 580 fils.
Jazeera Airways was unchanged at KD 1.105 after adding a meager 9 fils during whole of December while ALAFCO took in 1 fil to close at 261 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co rose 3 fils to 403 fils and Salbookh clipped 1.4 fils.
Kuwait Portland Cement was unchanged at 980 fils and ACICO Industries too did not budge from its earlier close of 127 fils. Equipment Holding trimmed 1 fil and Gulf Cable scaled 6 fils before winding up at 486 fils. Gulf Cement Co eased 0.9 fil to 48.1 fils and Fujairah Cement Co closed 1.1 fils in red.
Kuwait Foundry Co fell 2 fils to 335 fils and Warbcap was up 5 fils at 65.9 fils. Independent Petroleum Group dialed up 1 fil and Gulf Petroleum Investment dragged 0.1 fil up. AAN inched 0.3 fil lower to 13 fils after trading over 1.6 million shares and KPPC clipped 0.2 fil and NAPESCO paused at KD 1.250 and Burgan Well Drilling Co closed 1.4 fils in green. OSOS shed 9 fils and Advanced Technology Co dipped 25 fils to 785 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts climbed 3.8 fils to 54.8 fils and Al Rai Media Group was flat at 37.5 fils.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.5 fil and KGL Logistics eased 0.1 fil to 36.1 fils. Inovest edged 1 fil higher to 71.5 fils and Combined Group and Contracting Co fell 3 fils to 258 fils. SPEC dialed up 0.7 fil and Thuraya climbed 5.5 fils to 84.5 fils.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Kuwait International Bank took in 1 fil each to close at 315 fils and 278 fils respectively after pushing over 8 million shares at the counter while Boubyan Bank closed 3 fils higher at 664 fils. Warba Bank eased 1 fil to 275 fills with a volume of over 3 million.
Kuwait Finance House took in 2 fils on back of 10.8 million shares and Commercial Bank was unchanged at 548 fils with thin trading. Al Ahli Bank clipped 1 fil and Al Mutahed dialed up 1 fil before settling at 339 fils.
KIPCO was flat at 216 fils and Gulf Finance House gave up 0.3 fil before ending at 216 fils. FACIL and Kuwait Investment Co stood pat at 219 fils and 154 fils respectively whereas International Financial Advisors eased 0.1 fil to 53.1 fils. International Financial Advisors took in 0.1 fil higher to 53.1 fils.
National Investment Co and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) dialed up 1 fil each to close at 141 fils and 103 fils respectively whereas Securities House trimmed 0.8 fil. Arzan inched 0.2 fil higher to 23.7 fils on back of 2.9 million shares while Coast Investment Co edged 0.3 fil into green.
Bayan Investment Co added 0.3 fil and KMEFIC climbed 4.7 fils to 88.9 fils with razor thin trading and Al Aman gave up 1.5 fils. Osoul dialed up 1 fil whereas NIH and Unicap paused at 80 fils and 52.9 fils respectively. Al Mal Investment took in 0.3 fil on back of over 2 million shares.
Noor Financial Investment rallied 8 fils to 146 fils after pushing 4.9 million shares at the counter while Al Madar and Al Salam gave up 0.9 fil each to close at 93 fils and 39.1 fils respectively. Ektittab Holding fell 0.6 fil to 14.4 fils and Al Madina ended 0.3 fil lower with a volume of over 1 million.
Mabanee Co was unchanged at 925 fils and Kuwait Real Estate added 3 fils on back of 3.9 million shares. Kuwait Insurance Co dropped 9 fils to 340 fils and Warba Insurance Co fell 4.5 fils to 60 fils. Wethaq Takaful gave up 2 fils before closing at 23 fils.
The market has been upbeat so far during the holiday–trimmed week gaining 121 points In last two sessions. It has added 69 points so far during the month after rallying 1,203 points during whole of last year.