Kuwaiti market closes week with a down tick
Mezzan Holding soars 37 fils, Agility slips
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 22: Kuwait stocks edged slightly lower on Thursday to wind up the week on a dour note. The All Shares Index fell 3.67 pts in volatile session to 6000.10 points even as the broader mood remained fickle in absence of strong catalysts.
The Premier Market was little changed at 6610.18 pts while Main Market slipped 10.3 points at 4799.94 pts extending the month’s losses 83 points. The volume turnover meanwhile fell for the second straight session. Over 108 million shares changed hands – down 8 pct from the day before.
In the individual shares, Mabanee Co extended last session’s losses with 17 fils drop to KD 0.769 after trading over 1 million shares and Humansoft Holding climbed 10 fils to KD 3.190. Mezzan Holding soared 37 fils to 600 fils recouping most of Wednesday’s losses.
Zain ticked 1 fil higher to 574 fils on back of 5.3 million shares and Ooredoo followed suit to wind up at 720 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) slipped 4 fils to 796 fils and Agility gave up 5 fils after pushing 1.5 million shares. Integrated Holding Co dialed down 2 fils to end at 423 fils.
The market, after opened firm, fell sharply in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5984 points and clawed back into green amid buying in select counters. It peaked at 6,009 points almost half way into the session and drifted southwards thereafter before closing with slight losses.
Despite the day’s downtick, the winners outnumbered the losers. 57 stocks advanced whereas 42 closed lower. Of the 113 counters active on Thursday, 14 closed flat. 5,093 deals worth KD 22.71 million were transacted during the session.
Top gainer of the day, Tijara rallied 9.9 pct to 41.9 fils and Marakez scaled 9.8 percent to stand close behind. Amar Finance slumped 35.3 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Arzan topped the volume with over 12 million shares changing hands.
National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 244 fils with a volume of over 5 million while Gulf Cable fell 3 fils to 411 fils. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co tripped 1 fil while Boubyan Petrochemical Co added 4 fils before settling at 788 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co inched 1 fil into green.
Jazeera Airways was unchanged at 963 fils and ALAFCO gave up 3 fils before ending at 265 fils. Educational Holding Co rose 5 fils to 320 fls while OSOS and Inovest took in 1 fil each to close at 104 fils and 68 fils respectively.
Combined Group Contracting Co climbed 3 fils to 235 fils and Salbookh Trading and Contracting Co edged 0.3 fil up. Safat Energy ticked 1 fil higher and NICBM stood pat at 175 fils. Mashaer Holding pushed 0.9 fil up to 68.4 fils.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co fell 1.9 fils to 73 fils while KGL Logistics and Al Rai Media Group edged 0.1 fil into green. SPEC gave up 3 fils to close at 72 fils and KPPC trimmed 0.1 fil. IFA Hotels and Resorts eased 1 fil to 49 fils.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait dialed up 2 fils on back of 2.5 million shares and Kuwait International Bank followed suit to wind up at 274 fils. Gulf Bank took in 1 fil and Burgan Bank climbed 4 fils to 354 fils after pushing 3.8 million shares. Al Mutahed clipped 2 fils.
Kuwait Finance House clipped 2 fils after trading over 5 million shares and Boubyan Bank gave up 3 fils. Warba Bank paused at 253 fils and Ahli United Bank too did not budge from its previous close of 283 fils. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank slipped 4 fils each to end at 500 fils and 311 fils respectively.
KIPCO ticked 1 fil higher to 219 fils and Gulf Finance House eased 0.1 fil to 70 fils. Kuwait Investment Co tripped 2 fils whereas National Investment Co added 3 fils before closing at 134 fils. Coast Investment Co gave up 1.4 fils and FACIL paused at 195 fils.
Bayan Investment Co slipped 3.5 fils to 40.3 fils while KMEFIC and Aayan Investment took in 0.4 fil each. Securities House Co edged 0.5 fil into red and Unicap followed suit. Madar Finance climbed 3.7 fils to 93.7 fils while NIH and Al Imtiaz took in 1 fil each.
KAMCO added 1 fil before finishing at 92 fils with razor thin trading while
Al Deera Holding ticked 0.2 fil higher to 12.5 fils. Al Salam inched 0.6 fil higher on back of 4.6 million shares and Sokouk Holding followed suit to close at 33.5 fils.
Noor Financial Investment Co trimmed 0.2 fil and Tamdeen Investment stood pat at 323 fils. Ahleia Insurance Co slipped 5 fils to 420 fils and Warba Insurance Co clipped 1 fil.
National Real Estate ease 0.4 fil to 83.7 fils while United Real Estate Co and Salhiya Real Estate Co held ground at 62.9 fils and 336 fils respectively. Kuwait Real Estate Co trimmed 0.9 fil and Al Aqaria gave up 1.4 fils. Mazaya Holding eased 0.4 fil to 52.6 fils while Manazel and Marakez added 2.5 fils each.
The bourse was largely downbeat during the week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions shedding 74 points weekon-week. The main index has skidded 115 pts from start of the month and is trading 922 pts higher yearto-date. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.