Kuwait bourse opens week on sour note
Mabanee Co skids 28 fils, Humansoft gains
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 18: Kuwait stocks swung lower on Sunday as it kicked off the week on a sour note. The All Shares Index pared back steeper early gains to close 49.41 points down at 5685.82 pts as it extended its losses to fourth straight session.
The Premier Market slid 62.52 pts to 6314.93 points trimming the month’s gains to 94 points while Main Market shed 22.57 points. The BK 50 Main index was down 23 points at 4496.46 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile saw modest rise following Thursday’s pullback. Over 333 million shares changed hands – a 7 percent increase from the last session.
All sectors, barring one, closed in red zone. Utillites, the only gainer of the day, was up 0.31 pct whereas Technology sector shed 1.96 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 172.3 million shares while Banking sector dominated in value with KD 30 million.
Among the notable losers, Kuwait Finance House dipped 11 fils to 697 fils after trading over 20 million shares and Boubyan Bank skidded 14 fils to 623 fils with a volume of 2.2 million. Mabanee Co slid 28 fils to 700 fils taking the month’s losses to 30 fils. Boursa was down 17 fils at K 1.091 and NAPESCO shed 20 fils.
Zain fell 2 fils to 614 fils after pushing 3.2 million shares and Ooredoo eased 1fil to 626 fils. stc was unchanged at 855 fils after vacillating in narrow range while logistics major Agility clipped 1 fil before settling at 694 fils. Humansoft Holding climbed 20 fils to KD 2.899 and KIPCO gave up 2 fils after trading 1.5 million shares.
The market opened weak and fell sharply in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5675 points and clawed back close to opening level. It retreated again amid spurt in selling and closed with moderate losses.
Top gainer of the day, Sanam Real Estate rallied 9.8 pct to 31.3 fils and Al Madina sprinted 9.7 percent to stand next. Warba Bank skidded 5.6 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Madina topped the volume too with 69.8 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s drop, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 37 stocks advanced whereas 75 closed lower. Of the 130 counters active on Sunday, 18 closed flat. 12.182 deals worth over KD 50 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group fell 2 fils to 199 fils after trading 4.5 million shares while Mezzan Holding gave up 4 fils before ending at 615 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co added 3 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was down 5 fils at 307 fils. Integrated Holding dialed up 2 fils and Aznoula inched 1 fil up to 327 fils.
Jazeera Airways slipped 3 fils to 574 fils whereas ALAFCO stood pat at 165 fils. Burgan Well Drilling Co rose 3 fils to 82 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co gave up 3 fils before settling at 183 fils. OSOS took in 0.5 fil whereas Mashaer and Oula Fuel stood pat at 60.5 fils and 117 fils. Soor was flat at 120 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co slipped 4 fils to 225 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement paused at 789 fils. Gulf Cement Co added 1.7 fil whereas QIC clipped 1.9 fil to close at 70.1 fils. Metal and Recycling Co and Sultan Centre trimmed 1.9 fil each whereas Educational Holding Co was unchanged at 307 fils.
Kuwait Foundry Co dialed up 1 fil and Gulf Cable added 2 fils before ending at 704 fils. ACICO Industries took in 1 fils and Kuwait Hotels slipped 4.7 fils. KCPC fell 3 fils to 324 fils and KPPC eased 0.5 fil to 45.2 fils. Automated Systems Co gave up 1.4 fils and NICBM closed 2 fils in red.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait eased 1 fil to 880 fils with a volume of 7.5 million shares and Gulf Bank clipped 2 fils. Kuwait International Bank slipped 4 fils to 215 fils with brisk trading while Burgan Bank gave up 6 fils. Ahli United Bank tripped 1 fil and Warba Bank dropped 15 fils to 249 fils.
The market was mixed during the past week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions and is up 11 points week-on-week. It has scaled 241points from start of the month and is down 600 points yearto-date.