Kuwait ekes modest gains; volume soars

VIVA climbs 25 fils, KFH trips

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 19: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Monday nearly recouping last session’s losses. The All Shares Index climbed 11.03 pts in volatile session to 5,099.88 pts paced by Humansoft Holding and some of the heavyweights even as the overall mood remained mixed.

The Prime Market rose 3.6 pts to 5,288.74 points while Main Market jumped 24.77 pts to 4,757 points taking the month’s gains to 64 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded past the 100 million mark following the four-day drop. Over 140 million shares changed hands – a 44 pct surge from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 0.9 percent gain whereas basic materials shed 0.54 pct, the biggest losers of the day. Volume wise, financial services garnered the highest market share of 39 pct while real estate followed with 21.5 percent contribution..

Among the prime movers, Humansoft Holding soared 102 fils to KD 3.350 and Gulf Bank rallied 4 fils on back of over 7 million shares. Burgan Bank added 3 fils and Al Ahli Bank climbed 7 fils to 296 fils.

Zain was unchanged at 462 fils and Ooredoo jumped 20 fils to 725 fils with thin trading. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) sprinted 25 fils and Agility gave up 4 fils to wind up at 818 fils.

The market opened firm and headed higher in early trade. The main index flipped direction and pulled lower before rebounding again to scale the day’s highest level of 5,101 points . It retreated and drifted into red to bottom at 5,090 pts in the final minutes before clawing back into green at close.

Top gainer of the day, International Financial Advisors rallied 10.7 percent to 35.1 fils and Gulf Cement climbed 10 pct to stand close behind. Al Rai Media Group shed 7.48 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Aayan topped the volume with over 21 million shares.

Despite the day’s small gains, the market spread was even. 50 shares advanced and an equal number closed lower. Of the 112 counters active on Monday, 12 closed flat. 483 deals worth KD 13.8 million were transacted – a 32 pct surge in value from the day before.

National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 159 fils after trading over 1 million shares whereas Mezzan Holding gave up 3 fils to wind up at 597 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dialed up 2 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was down 6 fils at 380 fils..

Jazeera Airways tripped 1 fil to end at 749 fils while ALAFCO stood pat at 369 fils off early lows. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co skidded 17 fils to 429 fils extending Sunday’s losses and Equipment Holding inched 0.6 fil into green.

Kuwait Cement Co climbed 10 fils to 360 fils with razor thin trading whereas Kuwait Foundry Co gave up 3 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co scaled 9 fils whereas Independent Petroleum Group was down 4 fils at 410 fils. NICBM eased 1 fil to 169 fils.

Combined Group extended last session’s trend with 7 fils drop to 353 fils and Mashaer Holding ticked 1.1 fils into red. KPPC clipped 1 fil and KCPC took in 1 fil to close at 240 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co

slipped 4.2 fils to 92 fils and KGL Logistics trimmed 1.2 fils.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait fell 3 fils to 829 fils after trading 1.3 million shares and Kuwait Finance House clipped 2 fils before settling at 594 fils. Burgan Bank was up 3 fils at 281 fils recouping most of Sunday’s losses.

Commercial Bank eased 1 fil to 499 fils and Boubyan Bank followed suit. 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.

Kuwait International Bank rose 3 fils to 245 fils and Ahli United Bank dialed up 2 fils on back of 3.7 million shares. Warba Bank gained 9 fils to close at 224 fils. Al Mutahed was not traded during the session.

KIPCO fell 1 fil to 213 fils while Gulf Finance House took in 1.6 fils. National Investment Co inched 0.9 fil higher on back of over 2 million shares whereas Kuwait Investment Co and Securities House Co paused at 125 fils and 51.3 fils respectively.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz)

slipped 4.5 fils to 88 fils and Al Mal Investment added 0.4 fil on back of over 11 million shares Coast Investment Co ticked 0.3 fil higher and KFIC trimmed 0.5 fil.

KAMCO rose 1.1 fils to 68 fils and Unicap dialed up 0.5 fil. Madar Finance and Al Imtiaz took in 1 fil each while Al Madina stood pat at 23.6 fils. Ektittab Holding was unchanged at 22.5 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co tripped 0.4 fil after trading 1.5 million shares and Sokouk Holding scaled 31 fils to close at 45.1 fils. Al Deera Holding added 2.1 fils and Mabanee Co was flat at 635 fils and National Real Estate Co ticked 0.6 fil into red. Kuwait Real Estate inched 1.1 fils higher to 53.9 fils and United Real Estate closed 1.5 fils higher. Mazaya Holding edged 0.5 fil lower to 76.1 fils.

The bourse has been mixed so far during the week tripping 2 pts in last two sessions and has climbed 57 points from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.