Kuwait market heads south as volume turnover rebounds
National Bank of Kuwait slips 3 fils, NAPESCO gains
KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Kuwait stocks headed south on Thursday as it wrapped up the week on a sour note. The All Shares Index dropped 31.19 points to 5,653.32 points weighed mostly by heavyweights even as the broader sentiment turned downbeat.
The Premier Market dipped 39.65 points to 6,164 pts while Main Market shed 12.41 points. The BK Main 50 was down 17.64 points at 4,828.39 pts. The volume turnover, meanwhile, saw a modest rebound following the two-day fall. Over 208 million shares changed hands – a 6 pct rise from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Basic Materials outshone the rest with 3.88 pct gain whereas Industries slid 1.40 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 44.3 million shares while Banking sector continued to dominate in value with KD 17.47 million.
Among the prominent losers, Kuwait Finance House slipped 4 fils to 727 fils after trading 6.5 million shares and Boubyan Bank followed suit to end at 566 fils. Sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait gave up 3 fils with a volume of 6.2 million and Mabanee Co was down 4 fils at 699 fils paring the year’s gains to 42 fils.
Zain slipped 6 fils to 618 fils after moving 5.8 million shares while Ooredoo whittled down 3 fils. stc took in 1 fil whereas logistics major Agility skidded 13 fils to 659 fils with a volume of 2.5 million shares. Humansoft Holding tumbled 64 fils to KD 3.701 extending last session’s losses and Boursa Kuwait Securities shed 12 fils. NAPESO jumped 15 fils to 915 fils.
The market opened slightly gap up and drifted lower in early trade. The main index continued to erode amid selling pressure in some of the counters and fell sharply in the final hour before closing with moderate losses.
Top gainer of the day, Fujairah Cement sprinted 9.85 pct to 35.7 fils and ALOLA climbed 8 percent to stand next. Tahssilat skidded 13.93 pct, the biggest loser of the day and ALOLA also topped the volume with over 30 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s gains, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 33 stocks advanced whereas 84 closed lower. Of the 139 counters active on Thursday, 22 closed flat. 10.359 deals worth KD 43.63 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Burgan Bank fell 3 fils to 220 fils after pushing 5.6 million shares while Gulf Bank clipped 2 fils with a volume of over 7 million shares. Kuwait International Bank eased 1 fil to 201 fils.
Warba Bank eased 1 fil to 239 fils and Ahli United Bank was down 4 fils at 219 fils after moving 10.8 million shares. Commercial Bank was unchanged at 500 fils whereas Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait took in 1 fil. Ahli United Bank trimmed 1 fil before closing at 299 fils.
KIPCO eased 1 fil to 170 fils and Imtiaz Investment closed 2 fils in red after pushing 2.9 million shares. Kuwait Investment Co clipped 2 fils to close at 122 fils and International Financial Advisors followed suit to end at 110 fils after pushing 3.2 million shares.
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) stood pat at 82 fils whereas First Investment scaled 4.7 fils to close at 63.2 fils. The Securities House eased 0.1 fil and Arzan Financial Group slipped 7 fils to 93 fils.
Tamdeen Investment Co climbed 9 fils to 230 fils and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) held ground at 82 fils. Al Madar and KFIC trimmed 0.9 fil each whereas National International House whittled down 2.6 fils. Al Deera Holding dialed down 1.6 fils.
Noor Financial Investment was unchanged at 405 fils whereas Bayan Investment edged 0.8 fil into red. KAMCO Investment slipped 5 fils to 74 fils and Osoul Investment added 2 fils with razor thin trading.
Gulf Insurance Group galloped 13 fils to 633 fils whereas Kuwait Insurance Co and Warba Insurance paused at 405 fils and 119 fils respectively. National Real Estate Co eased 0.2 fil to 89.3 fils after moving 3.3 million shares and United Real Estate tripped 0.1 fil. Salhia Real Estate dialed up 1 fil whereas Tamdeen Real Estate was flat at 240 fils.
National Industries Group was flat at 190 fils whereas Gulf Cable shed 15 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co galloped 56 fils to 790 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co scaled 4 fils. Integrated Holding paused at 411 fils and Aznour closed 2 fils in red. Mezzan Holding was down 3 fils at 581 fils.
Jazeera Airways rose 4 fils to 653 fils taking the month’s gains to 15 fils while ALAFCO gave up 3 fils. KCPC rose 4 fils to 447 fils whereas KPPC dialed down 1.4 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co took in 1.8 fils and Automated Systems Co trimmed 0.8 fil.
The market was mixed during the holiday shortened week. The main index closed higher in two of the four sessions adding 4 points week-onweek. week. It had slid 132 points during whole of February and is up 124 points year-to-date.