Kuwait index heads south, volume rebounds
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 14: Kuwait stocks headed south on Wednesday extending last session’s pullback. The All Shares Index, after a volatile start, closed 14.4 points down at 5,747.64 pts even as the profit booking continued to weigh on some of the counters.
The Prime Market slipped 14.94 points to 6,398.54 points while Main Market was down 13.4 pts at 4,452.10 points. The BK 50 Main index shed 24.76 points. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded to hit the month’s highest level. Over 460 million shares changed hands – a 20 pct jump from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Insurance outshone the rest with 2 pct gain whereas Oil and Gas shed 0.95 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 244.5 million shares while Banking sector continued to dominate in value with over KD 30 million.
In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait extended last session’s losses with 6 fi ls drop to 896 fils after pushing 13.5 million shares while Boubyan Bank climbed 4 fils to 638 fils with a volume of 2.8 million. Mabanee Co gave up 5 fils after moving 2.4 million shares and Boursa paced 8 fils to close at KD 1.120. KIPCO dialed up 2 fils and Gulf Insurance soared 30 fils to 600 fils.
Zain fell 2 fils to 615 fils after trading 3.9 million shares and is up 41 fils from start of the month while Ooredoo was down 3 fils at 622 fils. STC was unchanged at 850 fils and logistics major Agility clipped 2 fils to close at 695 fils with a volume of 2.6 million. Humansoft Holding jumped 42 fils to KD 2.822 and International Financial Advisors rallied 28.2 fils with brisk trading.
The market opened weak and fell sharply in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,739 pts and bounced back before retreating again as selling weighed on some of the counters. It pared back some of the losses in the final minutes before closing in a shallow trough.
Gainer
Top gainer of the day, IFA Hotels and Resorts spiked 91.56 pct to 59 fils and Salbookh Contracting and Trading Co gained 8.46 pct. REAM tumbled 51.98 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and ALOLA topped the volume with 46.5 million shares.
Despite the day’s losses, the winners outnumbered the losers. 58 stocks advanced whereas 50 closed lower. Of the 131 counters active on Wednesday, 23 closed flat. 15,650 deals worth KD 63.78 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group was unchanged at 202 fils after pushing 9.4 million shares and Mezzan Holding clipped 2 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co slipped 4 fils to 580 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gave up 2 fils. Integrated Holding Co took in 1 fil while Aznoula stood pat at 327 fils.
Jazeera Airways fell 4 fils to 576 fils while ALAFCO held ground at 167 fils. Oula Fuel added 3 fils and Soor added 2 fils before ending at 118 fils. Masaher Holding inched 0.3 fil up and Inovest paused at 77.5 fils. KCPC slipped 4 fils to 316 fils and KPPC trimmed 0.8 fil. Gulf Petroleum Investment edged 0.3 fil up.
Kuwait Cement Co was flat at 230 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement climbed 7 fils to 775 fils. Gulf Cement Co dialed up 1.1 fils and QIC was flat at 72 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co and Automated Systems Co paused at 700 fils and 71.8 fils respectively whereas Equipment Holding eased 0.3 fil.
Kuwait Foundry Co dropped 6 fils to 255 fils and Gulf Cable gained 4 fils. Metal and Recycling Co was unchanged at 38.8 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co clipped 2 fils. NICBM added 2 fils and NAPESCO dipped 20 fils to KD 1.080 with thin trading. Combined Group Contracting Co closed 2 fils in red.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank dialed up 2 fils on back of over 6 million shares and Burgan Bank followed suit. Kuwait Finance House eased 1 fil to 709 fils after pushing 6.7 million shares while Kuwait International Bank gave up 3 fils. Ahli United Banka and Warba Bank dialed down 2 fils each.
The market has been mixed so far during the week and is up 24 points in last four sessions. It has scaled 303 points from start of the month and is down 537 points year-to-date.