Kuwait’s equities head south, volume recedes
Zain tumbles 41 fils, Agility up
KUWAIT CITY, April 1: Kuwait stocks headed south on Wednesday as it kicked off the month on a sour note. The All Shares Index slid 74.69 points in volatile session to 4,748.02 pts weighed by heavyweights and some of the mid-caps even as the COVID-19 impact continues to spook the investors.
The Premier Market tumbled 90.14 pts to 5,108.52 points taking the year-to-date losses to 1,867 pts while Main Market dipped 43.9 points. BK 50 Main was down 51.54 points to 3,946.73 pts. The volume turnover slipped below the 100 million mark following Tuesday’s upswing. Over 98 million shares changed hands – down 15 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Oil and Gas, the only gainer, inched 0.02 pct higher while Telecommunications dived 6.4 pct, the steepest decliner of the day. Banking sector continued to top in both volume and value with 41.7 million shares worth KD 12.12 million.
Among the notable losers, Kuwait Finance House nearly erased last session’s gains with 4 fils drop to 628 fils with a volume of 4.6 million shares while Burgan Bank gave up 5 fils after pushing 2.5 million shares. Mabanee Co slipped 4 fils to 630 fils and investment conglomerate KIPCO was down 5 fils at 165 fils.
Zain tumbled 41 fils to 475 fils with a volume of 5.8 million and has shed 125 fils year-to-date while Ooredoo skidded 24 fils 625 fils. Agility added 5 fils on back of 3.8 million shares to close at 574 fils and Humansoft Holding dived 63 fils to KD 2.287 extending last session’s losses.
The market opened firm and edged slightly lower in early trade. The main index pulled up briefly to touch the day’s highest level of 4802 pts and retreated amid moderate bout of selling across the sectors. It plumbed the day’s lowest level of 4738 points past the mid-session and see sawed thereafter before closing with deep losses.
Top gainer of the day, ERESCO climbed 8 pct to 54 fils while Taamer scaled 7.4 percent to stand next. KMEFIC skidded 14.16 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Aayan topped the volume with 18.2 million shares.
Mirroring the day’s slide, losers vastly outnumbered the gainers. 17 stocks advanced whereas 76 closed lower. Of the 100 counters active on Wednesday, 7 closed flat. 7,698 deals worth KD 20.32 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group fell 4 fils to 148 fils after trading over 3 million shares while Mezzan Holding tripped 1 fil. Boubyan Petrochemical Co shed 11 fils to close at 444 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co inched 1 fil lower. Integrated Holding clipped 2 fils.
Jazeera Airways dropped 9 fils to 501 fils and ALAFCO gave up 7 fils before settling at 148 fils. OSOS and SPEC dialed down 2 fils each to end at 100 fils and 60 fils respectively. Jiyad trimmed 0.8 fil and Ajwan eased 0.2 fil to 10.2 fils. Oula Fuel fell 3 fils to 104 fils and Soor ticked 1 fil lower to 100 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co slipped 7 fils to 153 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement shed 19 fils. Hilal Cement fell 3.8 fils to 73.2 fils while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co clipped 1 fil. Warbacap took in 2.1 fils whereas ACICO Industries and Safat Energy paused at 104 fils and 15.5 fills respectively.
Gulf Cable rose 4 fils to 464 fils and Gulf Petroleum Investment inched 0.1 fils higher. KCPC was unchanged at 265 fils and KPPC dialed up 1.9 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co was flat at 45.5 fils and KGL Logistics eased 0.1 fils. Mashaer Holding was down 2.6 fils at 54.9 fils.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait slipped 3 fils to 717 fils after trading 2.7 million shares and Gulf Bank followed suit to close with 205 fils with brisk trading. Boubyan Bank gave up 3 fils and Kuwait International Bank clipped 1 fil.
Ahli United Bank dropped 6 fils to 208 fils after pushing 13.5 million shares and Warba Bank ticked 1 fil lower. Commercial Bank continued to stagnate at 500 fils and Al Ahli Bank slipped 5 fils to 177 fils. Al Mutahed closed 3 fils in red.
Kuwait Investment Co fell 2.4 fils to 98.6 fils and FACIL dropped 4 fils to 197 fils. International Financial Advisors gave up 2.5 fils and National Investment Co added 0.9 fil. KAMCO dropped 4 fils to 76.9 fils and Noor Investment clipped 1.2 fils.
The market has been largely downbeat so far during the week and has dropped 148 pts in last four sessions. It has tumbled 1,497 pts from start of the month and is trading 1,490 pts lower year-to-date.