Kuwait wraps up week in red, volume recedes
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 24: Kuwait stocks retreated slightly on Thursday snapping the 6-day winning spree. The All Shares Index dropped 15.57 points in a volatile session to wrap up the week at 5,608.82 points as profit taking dragged some of the counters.
The Premier Market dropped 18.94 points to 6,221.64 pts paring the month’s gains to 367 pts while Main Market gave up 8.7 pts. The BK 50 Main index eased 1.57 pts to 4,447.64 points. The volume turnover meanwhile fell slightly following last session’s modest rebound. Over 442 million shares changed hands – down 1.5 pct from Wednesday. The sectors closed mostly in red turf. Technology outshone the rest with 0.54 pct gain whereas Healthcare shed 1.1 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 157.4 million shares while Banking sector continued to top in value with KD 34.6 million.
In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait partly erased last session’s gains with a 5 fils drop to 894 fils with a volume of over 7 million and Burgan Bank gave up 4 fils after pushing 4.2 million shares. Humansoft Holding shed 27 fils to close at KD 2.683 and Mabanee Co fell 3 fils to 758 fils. Boursa bucked the overall trend to gain 42 fils.
Zain eased 1 fil to 585 fils after trading 5.9 million shares while Ooredoo clipped 2 fils. stc dipped 20 fils to 840 fils and logistics major Agility stood pat at 678 fils with a volume of 4.2 million. KIPCO eased 1 fil to 158 fils and KAMCO ticked 0.3 fil into red. Noor Financial Investment Co was down 6 fils at 168 fils. The market opened firm and ticked up in early trade. The main index pivoted lower as sentiment turned weak and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,597 pts before clawing back into green. It continued to climb to peak at 5,633 points past the mid-session and retreated again to close with small losses.
Top gainer of the day, KPPC rallied 7.6 pct to 45.2 fils and Tijara paced 5.6 pct to stand next. Kuwait Hotels skidded 14 pct, the worst perfomer of the day and Aayan topped the volume with 442 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s drop, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 63 stocks advanced whereas 46 closed lower. Of the 133 counters active on Thursday, 24 closed flat. 15,846 deals worth KD 67.4 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 177 fils after moving 2.9 million shares while Mezzan Holding was down 6 fils at 624 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co slipped 5 fils to 563 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co fell 3 fils. Integrated Holding Co clipped 2 fils and Aznoula stood pat at 335 fils.
Jazeera Airways erased 3 fils before ending at 572 fils and ALAFCO dialed down 2 fils after trading over 3 million shares. IFA Hotels and Resorts and OSOS tripped 0.1 fil each whereas Oula Fuel paused at 110 fils. Burgan Well Drilling Co added 1.7 fils and Inovest dialed up 1.1 fils. Mashaer Holding added 1.9 fils on back of over 1 million shares.
Kuwait Cement Co was unchanged at 207 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement shed 15 fils. Gulf Cement Co gave up 2.5 fils and Kuwait National Cinema Co dipped 25 fils to 700 fils. Advanced Technology Co skidded 30 fils to 597 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co took in 2 fils.
Kuwait Foundry Co slipped 5 fils to 250 fils and Gulf Cable gained 11 fils. ACICO Industries gave up 4 fils while NICBM and AAN stood pat at 154 fils and 12 fils respectively. Automated Systems Co took in 0.4 fil and KCPC dialed down 1 fil. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co took in 0.5 fil.
In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House eased 1 fil to 693 fils after pushing 19.5 million shares and Gulf Bank followed suit to end at 230 fils. Kuwait International Bank clipped 2 fils with brisk trading and Boubyan Bank held ground at 604 fils.