Kuwait ekes modest gains; volume drops

NBK rallies 8 fils, Zain flat

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 13: Kuwait stocks eked modest gains on Sunday as it kicked off the week on a positive note. The All Shares Index climbed 14.74 points to 5,233.46 points led by some of the heavyweights even as the overall mood remained mixed.

The Prime Market scaled 20.14 points to close at 5,473.47 pts whereas Main Market rose 4.8 points to 4,796.27 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile retreated for the third straight session. Over 175 million shares changed hands – down 17 pct from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 0.75 percent gain whereas consumer goods dipped 4.6 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, financial services mustered the highest market share of 28.3 percent and banks trailed with 26.68 pct.

Among the notable gainers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rallied 8 fils to 873 fils on back of 7.3 million while Kuwait Finance House rose 4 fils to 639 fils with brisk trading. Boubyan Bank was up 5 fils at 582 fils extending Thursday’s gains.

Zain was unchanged at 471 fils with a volume of 1.7 million and Ooredoo too did not budge from its earlier close of 700 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) rallied 9 fils to 874 fils and Agility dialed down 2 fils before closing at 792 fils.

The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index jumped to hit the day’s highest level of 5,234 pts and drifted listlessly as sentiment turned mixed. It however revved up in the final hour to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, RKWC spiked 16.5 pct to 81 fils and Amar For Financing climbed 10 percent to stand next. Hilal Cement Co skidded 26.7 percent to 82.1 fils and Gulf Petroleum Investment Co topped the volume with 16.8 million shares.

National Industries Group rose 3 fils on back of 8.5 million shares and Mezzan Holding dipped 24 fils to 480 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gave up 4 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co ticked 1 fil into green. Equipment Holding ticked 0.6 fil higher to 30.9 fils.

Jazeera Airways slipped 4 fils to 720 fils and ALAFCO clipped 2 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co dropped 15 fils to 423 fils while Shuaiba Industrial was down 18 fils ay 423 fils. NICBM scaled 4 fils to end at 189 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co was unchanged at 369 fils while Kuwait Foundry Co and Salbookh dialed up 2 fils each. ACICO Industries scaled 4 fils and Gulf Cable rallied 10 fils to 383 fils. Independent Petroleum Group was up 4 fils at 429 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co slipped 4.4 fils to 94.6 fils and KGL Logistics tripped 0.8 fil. KPPC inched 0.1 fil higher and KCPC stood pat at 236 fils. Mashaer Holding dipped 10.3 fils to 76.7 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts gave up 3.8 fils.

Humansoft Holding was flat at KD 3.250 and Combined Group Contract- ing Co dialed down 1 fil. Al Rai Media Group edged 0.5 fil into green and Inovest fell 3.8 fils to 84 fils.

Despite the day’s gains, the losers outnumbered the winners. 51 stocks advanced whereas 57 closed lower. Of the 125 counters active on Sunday, 17 closed lower. 5,393 deals worth KD 28.2 million were transacted – a 12.6 pct drop in value from the day before.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank slipped 3 fils to 265 fils after trading 10.8 million shares and Burgan Bank followed suit to wind up at 288 fils. Kuwait International Bank added 3 fils whereas Commercial Bank was not traded during he session.

Al Ahli Bank climbed 4 fils to 305 fils and Al Mutahed scaled 9 fils before settling at 310 fils. Warba Bank and Ahli United Bank took in 1 fils each to end at 216 fils and 222 fils respectively.

KIPCO was flat at 210 fils and FACIL took in 2 fils. Kuwait Investment Co clipped 2 fils whereas International Financial Advisors tripped 0.3 fil after trading 3.3 million shares. Coast Investment Co inched 0.9 fil up to 34.9 fils.

Bayan Investment Co fell 1 fil to 46 fils whereas KAMCO and Madar Financing paused at 74 fils and 155 fils respectively. Al Mal edged 0.3 fil higher while Securities Group Co and Al Salam took in 0.2 fil each. NIH added 0.5 fil and Ektittab Holding followed suit to close at 22.3 fils.

KMEFIC rose 0.4 fil to 35.9 fils and KFIC clipped 0.5 fil. Unicao fell 1.1 fils to 80.8 fils and Al Deera Holding trimmed 0.4 fil. Al Madina was unchanged at 24.8 fils and Noor Fianncial Investment Co added 1.6 fils.

Tamdeen Investment Co was down 10 fils at 270 fils and Al Imtiaz eased 1 fil to 131 fils. Gulf Insurance Co dropped 11 fils to 649 fils and Ahleia Insurance Co scaled 11 fils. Warba Insurance Co shed 7.8 fils and First Takaful was down 7.4 fils at 41.1 fils.

Mabanee Co ticked 1 fil up to 614 fils and Kuwait Real Estate tripped 0.8 fil. United Real Estate inched 0.1 fil higher to 61.1 fils and National Real Estate was unchanged at 91 fils. Salhiya Real Estate slipped 4 fils and Mazaya Holding fell 1.5 fils.

The bourse was largely upbeat during previous week. The main index closed higher in four of the five sessions rallying 80 pts week-on-week and has gained 162 points so far during the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.