Kuwait bourse winds up week with ‘slight’ losses
Mabanee drops 8 fils, NBK flat
By John Mathews
KUWAIT CITY, May 14: Kuwait stocks edged lower on Thursday to wind up the week on a wobbly note. The All Shares Index shaved off 6.07 points in volatile session to close at 4699.11 points weighed by selling in some of the blue-chips even as the overall mood remained cautiously mixed.
The Premier Market fell 10.11 pts to 5024.51 points taking the month’s losses to 332 pts while Main Market added a marginal 2 pts to close at 5024.51 points. The BK 50 Main index rose 6.64 points. The volume turnover meanwhile slipped below the 100 million mark for the fourth time during the week. Over 80 million shares changed hands – down 24 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Basic Materials outshone the rest with 1.26 percent gain whereas Telecommunications shed 0.80 pct, the worst performer of the day. Banking sector, continued to top the volume and value with 48.4 million shares worth KD 11.57 million.
In the individual shares, Kuwait Finance House slipped 4 fils to 561 fils after trading over 6 million shares while Gulf Bank rose 4 fils to 200 fils with a volume of 2.3 million shares and is down 87 fils year-todate. Mabanee Co gave up 8 fils before settling at 560 fils and KIPCO took in 1 fils. National Bank of Kuwait paused at 711 fils.
Zain dropped 6 fils to 511 fils after moving over 2 million shares and Ooredoo added 3 fils to close at 637 fils. STC stood pat at 835 fils whereas logistics major Agility gave up 3 fils to wrap at 607 fils with a volume of 1.2 million. Humansoft Holding jumped 60 fils to KD 2.640.
The market opened firm and inched up in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 4719 pts and pivoted south as selling kicked in at select counters. It seesawed well past the mid-session before clawing back most of the losses at close.
Top gainer of the day, IFA Hotels and Resorts rallied 9.16 pct to 29.8 fils and Muntazahat sprinted 8.5 pct to stand next. Bayan Investment slid 8.6 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with over 31 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s downtick, the losers slightly outnumbered the winners. 36 stocks advanced whereas 40 closed lower. Of the 91 counters active on Thursday, 15 closed flat. 4755 deals worth KD 15.1 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group fell 4 fils to 148 fils after trading 1.7 million shares while Mezzan Holding dialed up 2 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co climbed 8 fils to 481 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co closed 3 fils in green. Jazeera Airways gained 5 fils and ALAFCO took in 1 fils.
In the banking sector, Burgan Bank was flat at 182 fils while Kuwait International Bank and Al Ahli Bank added 3 fils each to close at 168 fils and 162 fils respectively. Ahli United Bank took in 2 fils and Warba Bank gave up 4 fils.
The market was downbeat during the session. The main index closed lower in all the five sessions shedding 162 points week-on-week. It has slid 276 points from start of the month and has retreated 1583 points yearto-date.