Kuwait index winds up week on buoyant note

NBK rallied 5 fils, Mabanee Co slips

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 6: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Thursday to wind up the week on a cheery note. The All Shares Index rallied 33.21 points to 5,186.30 points paced by banking major and other heavyweights even as the mid and low-caps remained narrowly mixed.

The Prime Market jumped 45.33 pts to 5,435.29 points taking the month’s gains to 118 points and Main Market was up 10.85 percent at 4,734 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile tapered slightly following the two-day rise. Over 118 million shares changed hands - a 7.5 percent fall from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in the green turf. Consumer services outshone the rest with 2.33 pct gain whereas healthcare shed 0.42 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, banks notched the highest market share of 41 percent and financial services trailed far behind with 26.5 pct contribution.

Among the standout performers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rallied 5 fils to 840 fils on back of 5.5 million shares while Kuwait Finance House climbed 9 fils to 620 fils with brisk trading. IFA Hotels and Resorts scaled 19.5 fils and Humansoft Holding advanced 16 fils.

Zain rose 3 fils to 477 fils with a volume of 7.8 fils while Ooredoo added 3 fils to settle at 725 fils. Kuwait Telecommunication Co (VIVA) fell 5 fils to 786 fils and Agility extended Wednesday’s gains with 4 fils climb to 818 fils.

The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index sagged briefly before resuming its north-bound course amid strong buying in most of the blue chips and closed with sizable gains.

Top gainer of the day, IFA Hotels and Resorts spiked 27.4 pct to 5,037 pts and Injazzat scaled 8.9 percent to stand next. Yiaco skidded 9 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Finance House topped the volume with 9.7 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gain, the winners outnumbered the losers. 53 stocks advanced whereas 43 closed lower. Of the 113 counters active on Thursday, 17 closed lower. 5,347 deals worth KD 30.3 million were transacted – a 13.2 percent increase in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was flat at 164 fils after trading over 2 million shares and Mezzan Holding climbed 5 fils to 575 fils. Gulf Cable and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co tripped 1 fil each to end at 370 fils and 374 fils respectively while NICBM took in 1 fil.

Jazeera Airways fell 1 fil to 740 fils and ALAFCO added 3 fils to settle at 362 fils. Kuwait Cement Co tripped 1 fil and Kuwait Foundry Co followed suit to wind up at 179 fils. Kuwait Portland Cement was unchanged at KD 1.105 and ACICO Industries clipped 2 fils.

Combined Group Contracting Co inched 1 fil higher to 320 fils and Equipment Holding Co ticked 0.2 fil higher to 26.7 fils. Salbookh Trading added 2.9 fils and Mashaer Holding closed 1.8 fils in green. Safat Energy eased 0.5 fil

to 30 fils.

Boubyan Petrochemical Co jumped 13 fils to 578 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co dialed up 2 fils. The company has recorded a profit of KD 4.41 million in the quarter ended 30 Sept .

Kuwait and Gulf Links fell 1.4 fils to 96.5 fils and KGL Logistics inched 0.1 fil lower. Al Rai Media Group took in 0.7 fil and KCPC gave up 0.3 fil. OSOS was unchanged at 110 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Burgan Bank rose 3 fils each to close at 280 fils and 295 fils respectively whereas Gulf Finance House trimmed 0.9 fil. Kuwait International Bank clipped 2 fils and Ahli United Bank ticked 1 fil higher.

Boubyan Bank rallied 13 fils to 578 fils with a volume of 1.5 million shares and Warba Bank extended its advance with a 9 fils on back of 9.3 million shares. Commercial Bank was not traded during the session

Al Mutahed fell 3 fils and Al Ahli Bank clipped 1 fil. ABK has registered a 35% jump in third quarter profits to KD 7.94 million) in from KD 5.88 mln in same period last year.

KIPCO was flat at 210 fils and Kuwait

Investment Co gave up 3 fils. Facil gained 3 fils whereas Arzan and Aayan took in 0.2 fil each. Coast Investment Co trimmed 0.5 fil and Securities House dialed up 0.4 fil. International Fiancial Advisors stood pat at 30.5 fils.

KAMCO was flat at 75 fils and KFIC fell 1.4 fils to 35 fils. KMEFIC edged 0.8 fil into green while Osoul Investment clipped 2 fils. Madar Finance dialed up 2 fils and Unicap rose 3.1 fils to 74.9 fils. Al Deera Holding tripped 0.7 fil and Al Madina ticked 0.4 fil lower.

Noor Financial Investment took in 2.4 fils to settle at 62 fils and Al Imtiaz gave up 1 fil. Warba Insurance Co stood pat at 66 fils and First Takaful fell 0.4 fil to 49.6 fils. National Investment Co was down 0.8 fil at 82.2 fils.

Mabanee Co slipped 8 fils to 630 fils and National Real Estate eased 0.2 fil to 94 fils. Salhiya Real Estate clipped 1 fil and Mazaya Holding paused at 76.9 fils.

The bourse was upbeat during the week. The main index closed higher in all five sessions gaining 77 pts weekon-week after rallying 66 points during whole of November. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.