Kuwaiti market edges lower, volume shrinks By John Mathews

Humansoft Holding dips 50 fils, Jazeera Airways up

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 21: Kuwait stocks edged lower on Sunday extending the previous week’s downtrend. The All Shares Index fell 6.3 pts in volatile session to 4,997.69 points weighed by Humansoft Holding even as the overall mood remained lackluster.

The Premier Market slipped 4.28 pts to 5,168.71 points taking the month’s losses to 175 points whereas Main Market dropped 10.05 pts to 4,687.68 points. The volume turnover turned markedly anemic. Over 35 million shares changed hands – down 28 pct from the last session.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Insurance sector outpaced the rest with 1,26 pct gain whereas financial services shed 0.9 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, real estate accounted for the highest market share of 36 percent and financial services trailed with 23.7 percent contribution.

In the individual shares, Humansoft Holding sank 50 fils to KD 3.150 erasing last session’s gains and Integrated Holding Co was down 6 fils at 875 fils. National Bank of Kuwait dialed down 2 fils to close at 813 fils and has shed 20 fils so far during the month.

Zain tripped 1 fil after trading 1.7 million shares while Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) gave up 9 fils before closing at 711 fils. Agility clipped 1 fil and Ooredoo was not traded during the session.

The market opened firm and fell sharply in early trade. The main index see sawed before plumbing the day’s lowest level of 4,993 points and headed north amid brief spurt in buying. It retreated again and closed with small losses.

Top gainer of the day, Sanam Real Estate spiked 51 pct to 43.2 fils and Masaken soared 15.4 percent to stand next. Asiya skidded 9.7 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Abyaar Real Estate topped the volume with over 5 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s downtick, the losers outnumbered the winners. 34 stocks advanced whereas 55 closed lower. Of the 109 counters active on Sunday, 20 closed flat. 2287 deals worth KD 6.7 million were transacted – down 34.5 percent in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was unchanged at 156 fils and Gulf Cable climbed 10 fils to 374 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical rallied 10 fils to KD 1.065 and Al Qurain Petrochemical ticked 1 fil higher to 386 fils.

Jazeera Airways rose 5 fils to 740 fils and ALAFCO climbed 7 fils to 337 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co advanced 8 fils to 468 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co stood pat at 100 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co clipped 1 fil and NAPESCO held ground at 82.5 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co added 3 fils whereas ACICO and NICBM shed 7 fils each to close at 200 fils and 168 fils respectively.

Inovest fell 2.5 fils to 82 fils and Al Rai Media Group dialed up 2.4 fils. KCPC gained 5 fils and KPPC

fell 2.4 fils to 50 fils. Mashaer Holding added 2.1 fils before winding up 44.4 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co slipped 2.5 fils to 93 fils and KGL Logistics trimmed 0.3 fil.

Masaken gained 5.6 fils and Independent Petroleum Group dropped 10 fils. The company’s third quarter profits rose 1.3 pct to KD 1.46 million from same period last year. During the nine-month period ending Sep 30 the earnings grew 15.4% i to KD 5.86 million.

Clipped

In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House inched 1 fil down whereas Gulf Bank and Kuwait International Bank paused at 247 fils and 230 fils respectively. Warba Bank clipped 2 fils and Ahli United Bank paused at 200 fils.

Burgan Bank was flat at 275 fils and Boubyan Bank slipped 5 fils. The bank’s net profits climbed 18 pct to KD 40.3 million during the nine-month period ended on 30 Sept 2018 as against same period last year. Earnings per share soared to 15.83 fils.

KIPCO took in 2 fils and Gulf Finance House fell 3 fils to 93 fils. Facil slipped 8 fils to 172 fils and International Financial Advisors trimmed 0.6 fil after trading over

1 million shares while Securties House Co edged 0.5 fil into red. ALOLA tripped 1.1 fils.

Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) clipped 1 fil each whereas KMEFIC inched 0.1 fil into green. Osoul Investment dropped 4.5 fils to 53.1 fils and Al Mal Investment took in 0.3 fil. Unicap eased 0.9 fil to 59.1 fils and Al Deera Hodling dialed up 0.5 fil.

Bayan Investment fell 3 fils to 44.8 fils and Al Madar tripped 1 fil. Noor Financial Investment Co ticked 0.4 fil lower to 51.4 fils. Al Madina clipped 0.2 fil and Al Imtiaz dialed up 1 fil. Kuwait Insurance Co soared 20 fils to 330 fils and Ahleia Insurance Co paused at 427 fils. Warba Insurance Co inched 1 fil up.

Mabanee Co rose 3 fils to 611 fils and Kuwait Real Estate tripped 0.3 fil. National Real Estate Co gave up 1.9 fils before closing at 89.6 fils and Al Aqaria dialed down 1 fil. Mazaya Holding fell 0.5 fil and REAM scaled 18 fils.

The bourse trended lower during last week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions shedding 62 pts week-on-week and has skidded 130 points from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.