Kuwait index up for 4th day on trot, volume swells
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 17: Kuwait stocks headed north on Sunday, extending the gains to fourth straight session. The All Shares Index climbed 27.49 points in range bound trade to 6,913.64 pts paced by some of the mid-caps and heavyweights.
The Premier Market rose 19.97 points to 7,481.43 pts paring the month’s losses to 15 pts while Main Market jumped 45.92 points. The BK Main 50 rallied 45.92 points to 5,818.18 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for the fourth session in row . Over 488 million share change hands – up 19.5 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in green turf. Technology outshone the rest with 21.5 percent gain whereas Basic Materials shed 1.68 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 181.19 million shares and the sector also dominated in value with KD 17.61 million.
Rose
Among the notable movers, Gulf Bank rose 4 fils to 241 fils on back of 14.7 million shares while Kuwait Finance House scaled 5 fils after pushing 3.7 million shares and is trading 10 fils lower month-to-date. Mabanee Co paced 3 fils and Humansoft Holding sprinted 11 fils to KD 3.311 extending Thursday’s gains. Tamdeen Investment Co rallied 11 fils to 393 fils and Tamdeen Real Estate Co gained 17 fils.
Zain was unchanged at 599 fils after pushing 3.2 million shares whereas Ooredoo darted 15 fils taking the month’s gains to 28 fils. stc dialed up 2 fils whereas logistics major Agility fell 2 fils to 974 fils and the counter saw 1.4 million shares change hands. KIPCO and National Investment Co took in 1 fil each while Boursa Kuwait Securities Co sprinted 12 fils to KD 1.815. NAPESCO paced 5 fils.
Closed
National Industries Group inched 1 fil up to 243 fils on back of 2.4 million shares and Gulf Cable closed 5 fils in green. Boubyan Petrochemical Co shed 13 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was down 9 fils at 377 fils. Jazeera Airways saw a 17 fils lift taking the price to 885 fils and ALAFCO dialed up 2 fils. Mezzan Holding Co closed 4 fils in red.
The market opened firm and rose sharply in early trade. The main index vacillated in narrow range before heading north past the mid-session amid buying spurt in some of the counters. It scaled the day’s highest level of 6,917 points and retreated back into red before clawing back in the final minutes to close with modest gains.
Top gainer of the day, GFC soared a whopping 91.19 fils to 97.7 fils while KSHC sprinted 35.33 pct to stand next. Amar Financing skidded 12.36 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and GFH topped the volume with 70.69 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s gains, the winners vastly outnumbered the losers. 88 stocks advanced whereas 34 closed lower. Of the 141 counters active on Sunday, 19 closed flat. 14,878 deals worth KD 56.9 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait took in 1 fil on back of 3.5 million shares to close at 948 fils and Burgan Bank followed suit. Kuwait International Bank too added 1 fil whereas Boubyan Bank held ground at 771 fils. Ahli United Bank dialed up 1 fil and Warba Bank paced 4 fils on back of 7.6 million shares. Al Ahli Bank gained 8 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co eased 1 fil to 245 fils whereas Kuwait Portland Cement paced 4 fils. HEISC rose 3 fils to 477 fils whereas Metal and Recycling Co and ACICO Industries gave up 2 fils each. Hilal Cement slipped 8 fils to 170 fils while Shuaiba Industrial scaled 5 fils to close at 220 fils. NICBM dialed up 1 fil and Equipment Holding closed 1.3 fils in red. Kuwait National Cinema Co was unchanged at 850 fils.
Soared
Educational Holding Co soared 43 fils to 793 fils whereas Sultan Centre and NCCI held ground at 193 fils and 180 fils respectively. Warba Capital tripped 1 fil and Arabi Group Holding fell 3 fils to 156 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co added 1.1 fils on back of 1.4 million shares while Automated Systems Co closed 2.1 fils in green. Gulf Franchising Holding vaulted 46.6 fils to 97.7 fils.
Burgan Company For Well Drilling took in 1 fil and Combined Group Contracting Co added 2 fils and PAPCO gave up 3.5 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts crept 0.5 fil up to 52.7 fils while OSOS Holding dialed up 1 fil. United Projects Co gained 6 fils and Egypt Kuwait Holding was up 3 fils at 410 fils. Soor Fuel Marketing Co gained 4 fils and Inovest BSC paused at 107 fils. YIACO Medical rose 5 fils on razor thin trading.
The market was largely upbeat during past week. The main index closed higher in three of the five sessions adding 3 points week-on-week. It has gained 49 points from start of the month and is up 1,367 points year-to-date.