By John Mathews

KFH rallies 8 fils, Ooredoo slips

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 4: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Tuesday after eking marginal gains in the last two sessions. The All Shares Index climbed a modest 26.24 points to helped by a swell in buying in the second half in banks and some of the other blue chips.

The Prime Market jumped 41.99 pts to 5,369.04 points while Main Market slipped 5.71 pts to 4,725.77 points. The volume turnover meanwhile surged following the four-day drop. Over 105 million shares changed hands – a 52 percent jump from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Technology outpaced the rest with 9.6 percent spike whereas consumer services dipped 4.4 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, financial services notched the highest market share of 36 percent and banks followed closely with 35 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, Kuwait Finance House rallied 8 fils on back of over 9 million shares and Burgan Bank added 4 fils with a volume of 5.7 million. KIPCO rose 3 fils to 210 fils and Mabanee Co too rebounded from Monday’s trough with a 5 fils gain.

Zain climbed 7 fils to 472 fils on back of 5.7 million shares and Ooredoo gave up 3 fils to settle at 722 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) ticked 1 fil up to 790 fils and Agility recouped last session’s losses with a 9 fils jump to 807 fils.

The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index continued to drift listlessly and scraped the day’s lowest level of 5,111 pts past the mid-session. It revved up thereafter amid a spurt in buying in some of the heavyweight counters and closed with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, Automated Systems Co rallied 9.6 pct to 114 fils and Gulf Cement Co climbed 8 pct to stand next. IFA Hotels and Resorts tanked 35.7 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Aayan topped the volume with 18.8 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gains, the winners outpaced the losers. 58 stocks advanced whereas 45 closed lower. Of the 116 counters active on Tuesday, 13 closed flat. 4,698 transactions worth KD 22.54 million were transacted – a 74 pct surge in value from the day before.

National Industries Group dialed up 2 fils with a volume of over 3 million and Mezzan Holding followed suit to end at 570 fils. Kuwaitv Foundry Co took in 1 fil and Equipment Holding tripped 0.2 fil to end at 26.8 fils. ACICO Industries fell 2 fils to 170 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co was flat at 360 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 321 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co shed 17 fils after trading 2.4 million shares and Gulf Cable dialed up 2 fils. Mashaer Holding closed 0.4 fil in green.

Jazeera Airways slipped 4 fils to 744 fils and ALAFCO took in 2 fils to end at 357 fils. Educational Holding Co gained 5 fils and OSOS gave up 4 fils to close at 108 fils. KPPC paused at 52 fils and Yiaco dropped 16 fils to 110 fils.

Inovest inched 1 fil higher to 87 fils and Al Rai Media Group clipped 1.4 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co rose 1.4 fils to 96.9 fils and KGL Logistics ticked 0.1 fil up. Boubyan Petrochemical Co sprinted 9 fils to KD 1.024 and Qurain Petrochemical Industries inched 1 fil up.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait took in 1 fil on back of 2.5 million shares and Gulf Bank was unchanged at 267 fils with brisk trading of 4.5 million shares. Boubyan Bank rallied 15 fils to 560 fils.

Al Ahli Bank eased 1 fil to 299 fls and Al Mutahed was up 4 fils at 302 fils. Warba Bank slipped 3 fils to 208 fils and Ahli United Bank ticked 1 fil into red. Commercial Bank was not traded during the session. Kuwait International Bank rose 3 fils on back of 4.3 million shares.

Kuwait Investment Co was flat at 132 fils and International Financial Advisors edged 0.4 fil higher to 30.1 fils with a volume of 1.2 million shares. National Investment Co trimmed 0.5 fil while Coast Investment dialed up 0.5 fil.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) rose 4 fils to 104 fils with thin trading whereas

Al Mal Investment paused at 23 fils. KMEFIC added 1.3 fils and ALOLA fell 1.4 fils to 40 fils.

KAMCO inched 0.1 fil higher to 76.8 fils and Bayan Investment clipped 1 fils. Unicap dialed up 2 fils and KFIC inched 0.1 fil into red. Noor Financial Centre and Al Deera Holding took in 0.5 fil each while Sokouk Holding added 1.2 fils.

Warba Insurance Co slipped 4 fils to 65 fils and First Takaful gave up 2.1 fils. Al Imtiaz inched 1 fil up on back of 1.3 million shares and Securities House Co ticked 0.2 fil lower to 84 fils.

National Real Estate Co tripped 0.1 fil and Salhiya Real Estate took in 1 fil. Kuwait Real Estate inched 0.4 fil up with a volume of 2.8 million and Al Aqaria edged 0.5 fil higher to 24.5 fils.

The bourse has been upbeat so far during the week climbing 31 pts in last three sessions after rallying 66 points during whole of November. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.