Kuwait wraps up week on cheery note

Zain climbs 4 fils, Humansoft Holding drops

KUWAIT CITY, May 21: Kuwait stocks moved higher on Thursday to wind up the week on a cheery note. The All Shares Index rose a modest 18.33 points in volatile session to 4913.7 points even as broader sentiment remained upbeat.

The Premier Market climbed 18.98 pts to 5295.99 points while Main Market gained 17.7 points paring the month’s losses to 65 pts. The BK 50 Main index was up 12 points at 4064.92 points. The volume turnover meanwhile eased slightly to hit week’s lowest. Over 82 million shares changed hands – down 1 percent from the day before.

All sectors, barring one, closed in green territory. Real Estate outpaced the rest with 0.86 percent gain whereas Oil and Gas shed 2.08 percent, the worst performer of the day. Banking sector continued to dominate in both volume and value with 35.5 million shares worth KD 11 million.

Among the notable gainers, sector bellwether, National Bank of Kuwait dialed up 2 fils on back of 5.3 million shares to close at 762 fils while Kuwait Finance House ticked 1 fil higher to 596 fils after pushing 3.7 million shares. Kuwait Portland Cement Co jumped 22 fils while Mabanee Co took in 2 fils.

Zain climbed 4 fils to 530 fils on back of 3.7 million shares whereas Ooredoo stood pat at 639 fils. Logistics major Agility gave up 3 fils before settling at 634 fils and Humansoft Holding pulled 22 fils lower to KD 2.670 taking the month’s losses to 170 fils. KIPCO edged 1 fil up to 169 fils.

The market opened firm and headed south in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 4892 pts almost half hour into the session and seesawed in a narrow range. It gained traction thereafter amid fresh buying across the sectors and closed with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, First Dubai rallied 22.94 pct to 41.8 fils while FutureKid sprinted 14.67 pct to stand next. Al Deera Holding skidded 6.9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with over 17 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s gains, the winners vastly outnumbered the losers. 64 stocks advanced whereas 27 closed lower. Of the 108 counters active on Thursday, 17 closed flat. 4605 deals worth KD 16.22 million were transacted during the session.

National Industries Group took in 2 fils on back of 2.2 million shares to close at 170 fils while Mezzan Holding extended last session’s gains with a 1 fil uptick. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 4 fils to 507 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co tripped 1 fils. Gulf Cable gained 4 fils and KCPC closed 5 fils in green.

Jazeera Airways was up 3 fils to close at 532 fils and Educational Holding Group jumped 20 fils with thin trading. ACICO Industries dialed up 2 fils and Thuraya scaled 10 fils to close at 138 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co gave up 6 fils and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co inched 1 fil into green. Kuwiat Gulf Links Transport Co closed flat at 49.9 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank took in 2 fils and Kuwait International Bank followed suit after moving 4.4 million shares. Burgan Bank ticked 1 fil up to 194 fils and Boubyan Bank added 3 fils. Warba Bank closed 2 fils in green.

The market was buoyant during the week. The main index closed higher in all five sessions gaining 214 points week-on-week. It has shed down 63 points from start of the month and has retreated 1388 points year-to-date.