Kuwait index little changed, volume turnover up
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 12: Kuwait stocks trod water on Monday as it took a breather following the fiveday winning spree. The All Shares Index, after getting off to a volatile start, closed 1.84 points up at 5,778.82 pts even as the broader sentiment turned mixed.
The Premier Market rose 5.3 points to 6,439.04 pts taking the month’s gains to 419 pts while Main Market gave up 5.4 points. The BK 50 Main index added 2.37 points. The volume turnover meanwhile soared to month’s high. Over 445 million shares changed hands – up 12 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Oil and Gas outshone the rest with 0.36 pct gain whereas Insurance shed 3.1 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 131.6 million shares while Banking sector continued to forge ahead with KD 42.9 million shares.
Gained
In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait was unchanged at 913 fils after trading 10.9 million shares while Kuwait Finance House took in 2 fils on back of over 15 million shares and has gained 51 fils so far during the month. Boubyan Bank climbed 8 fils to 628 fils and Boursa gave up 17 fils to settle at KD 1.121.
Zain eased 1 fil to 624 fils after pushing 2.9 million shares and Ooredoo ticked 1 fil lower to 625 fils. stc rose 3 fils to 850 fils and Agility eased 1 fil to 706 fils with a volume of 706 fils. Humansoft Holding sprinted 17 fils to KD 2.765 whereas KIPCO and KAMCO were unchanged at 162 fils and 77.8 fils respectively.
The market opened firm and pulled higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 5,794 points and retreated into red amid a bout of profit booking. It bottomed at 5,767 points and clawed back into green territory again before trading sideways in the second half to close marginally in the positive side.
Top gainer of the day, KSHC soared 14.5 pct to 29.2 fils and GFC sprinted 9.9 percent to stand next. Gulf Insurance skidded 12.6 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding topped the volume with 65.9 million shares.
Despite the day’s gains, the losers outnumbered the losers. 48 stocks advanced whereas 60 closed lower. Of the 132 counters active on Monday, 24 closed flat. 16,173 deals worth KD 71 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group climbed 6 fils to 193 fils on back of 28.9 million shares and Mezzan Holding fell 2 fils to 618 fils. Boubyan Petrchemical Co slipped 5 fils to 578 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co clipped 2 fils. Integrated Holding Co and Aznoula stood pat at 372 fils and 329 fils respectively.
Jazeera Airways fell 3 fils to 584 fils while ALAFCO held ground at 166 fils after moving over 2 million shares. Advanced Technology Co added 3 fils with razor thin trading and Inovest eased 0.2 fil. Oula Fuel and Soor were flat at 115 fils and 114 fils respectively whereas Energy Holding trimmed 0.4 fil.
Kuwait Cement Co dialed up 1 fil on back of over 1 million shares and Kuwait Portland Cement slipped 5 fils to 769 fils. Gulf Cement Co inched 0.4 fil higher and Burgan Well Drilling Co gave up 3 fils. OSOS took in 1.3 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts ticked 0.3 fil up on back of 19.2 million shares.
Kuwait Foundry Co paced 9 fils and Gulf Cable clipped 1 fil to end at 704 fils. KCPC rose 4 fils to 322 fils and KPPC dialed up 1.2 fils. Independent Petroleum Group gained 10 fils and Automated Systems
Co erased 0.8 fil. Metal and Recycling Co edged 1.9 fils to 37.1 fils.
Combined Group Contracting Co slipped 4 fils to 191 fils and Shuaiba Industrial paused at 140 fils. ACICO Industries added 1 fil and NICBM was unchanged at 159 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co clipped 1 fil and KGL Logistics eased 0.2 fil. Educational Holding Co dialed up 2 fils.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank fell 2 fils to 241 fils after pushing 20.2 fils and Burgan Bank paused at 225 fils. Kuwait International Bank took in 2 fils and Ahli United Bank followed suit with brisk trading.
The market has been trending higher so far during the week adding 54 points in last two sessions. It had scaled 333 points from start of the month and is down 507 points year-to-date.