Kuwaiti market treads water, volume shrinks
Mabanee Co gains 9 fils, KIPCO slips
By John Mathews Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, March 30: Kuwait stocks trod water on Monday following last session’s downswing. The All Shares Index ticked 1.01 pts higher in lackluster trade to 4,759.57 points even as some of the heavyweights eked modest gains.
The Premier Market climbed 14.8 pts to 5,116.42 points while Main Market shed 26.75 points. BK 50 Main dipped 41 points to 3,981.54 points. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank further to hit month’s lowest level. Over 98 million shares changed hands – down 7.5 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Telecommunications outshone the rest with 2.45 pct gain whereas Consumer Goods shed 1.58 pct, the worst performer of the day. Banking sector continued to top in both volume and value with over 55 million shares worth KD 18.2 million.
In the individual shares, KIPCO slipped 7 fils to 164 fils taking the month’s losses to 42 fils while Boubyan Bank gave up 6 fils to settle at 503 fils after trading 1.3 million. Mabanee Co climbed 9 fils to 620 fils on back of 1.3 million shares and Humansoft Holding shed 20 fils.
Zain rallied 16 fils to 501 fils with a volume of 6.5 million and Ooredoo dialed up 2 fils to end at 630 fils. STC fell 3 fils to 777 fils and Agility sprinted 11 fils to 544 fils after pushing 3.4 million shares.
The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 4,810 pts and pivoted downwards as selling weighed on select counters. It moved sideways thereafter and closed barely in green territory.
Top gainer of the day, Wethaq Takaful rallied 10 fils to 20.9 fils and Warba Insurance Co climbed 9.89 pct to stand close behind. Al Eid slid 9.6 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait International Bank topped the volume with over 17 million shares.
Despite the day’s uptick, the losers vastly outled the winners. 38 stocks advanced whereas 61 closed lower. Of the 107 counters active on Monday, 8 closed flat. 7,452 deals worth KD 27.2 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 149 fils after trading 5.3 million shares while Mezzan Holding added 3 fils before settling at 473 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co slipped 6 fils to 447 fils and Al Qurain closed 3 fils down at 190 fils. Integrated Holding dialed up 2 fils to end at 421 fils.
Jazeera Airways slipped 6 fils to 494 fils taking the month’s losses to 511 fils while ALAFCO dropped 11 fils to 158 fils. Soor Fuel tripped 1 fils while Oula Fuel and OSOS fell 4 fils each to close at 104 fils and 102 fils respectively. Future Kid were down 4.7 fils at 89.3 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co slipped 8 fils to 162 fils and Gulf Cable followed suit to end at 460 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co added 3 fils whereas Energy Holding and NICBM stood pat at 16.3 fils and 166 fils respectively. Hilal Cement Co fell 4 fils to 77 fils.
Kuwait Foundry Co clipped 1 fil and Metal and Recycling Co rose 4.1 fils to 46 fils. Educational Holding dipped 16 fils to 270 fils and Sultan Centre trimmed 1.5 fils. KCPC dialed down 2 fils and KPPC inched 0.5 fil lower to 43 fils. Mashaer Holding edged 1.7 fils down.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co eased 0.2 fil to 44.7 fils and KGL Logistics trimmed 0.4 fil. ACICO Industries climbed 6 fils to 106 fils and Gulf Petroleum Investment ticked 0.6 fil lower.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait clipped 1 fils after trading 3.4 million shares and Kuwait International Bank followed suit to close at 197 fils. Kuwait Finance House took in 2 fils on back of 9.3 million shares to end at 627 fils and Burgan Bank paused at 204 fils.
Ahli United Bank eased 1 fil to 206 fils with a volume of 8.4 million and Warba Bank gave up 2 fils. Commercial Bank was unchanged at 500 fils after trading over 3 million shares whereas Al Ahli Bank and Al Mutahed dropped 7 fils each.
Kuwait Investment Co took in 0.5 fil while Coast Investment Co and Arzan ticked 0.4 fil higher. National Investment Co trimmed 0.7 fil and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) eased 0.3 fil. KMEFIC gave up 7.8 fils while Ektittab and Noor Investment erased 0.8 fil each.
The market has been largely weak so far during the week shedding 137 pts in last two sessions. It has tumbled 1,486 pts from start of the month and is trading 1,479 pts lower year-to-date.