Kuwait ‘notches’ strong gains, volume increases

NBK rallies 23 fils, Humansoft dips

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 14: Kuwait stocks rose strongly on Tuesday extending last session’s robust gains. The All Shares Index soared 103.03 pts to 6,333.26 points led by heavyweights even as the overall mood remained buoyant.

The Premier Market rallied 132.05 pts to 7,061.53 points taking the month’s gains to 86 points while Main Market climbed 43.4 pts to 4,889.03 pts after soaring 478 pts during whole of last year. The volume turnover meanwhile saw small rise during the session. Over 248 million shares changed hands – a 15 pct increase from the last session.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Banking sector outperformed the rest with 2.02 pct jump whereas Consumer Goods shed 1.18 pct, the only loser of the year. Volume wise, Financial services topped with 89 million shares while in value, Banking Sector was ahead with over KD 41 million.

Among prime movers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rallied 23 fils to KD 1.088 on back of over 13 million shares after gaining 59 fils during last month while Gulf Bank rose 9 fils with brisk trading as it extended last session’s upswing. Kuwait Finance House sprinted 13 fils to 815 fils after pushing 12.9 million shares during the session.

Zain swung 11 fils to 599 fils after adding 13 fils during whole of last month and saw 7.7 million shares change hands while Ooredoo jumped 20 fils to 790 fils. STC clipped 2 fils before ending at 768 fils and Agility gained 13 fils to close at 815 fils. Humansoft Holding however slid 61 fils to KD 3.050 reversing some of the last session’s gains.

The market opened firm and headed higher in early trade. The main index continued to climb amid strong buying in most of the blue chips and peaked at 6347 points past the mid-session. It drifted sideways thereafter before closing with solid gains.

Top gainer of the day, Burgan Well Drilling Co spiked 20.9 pct to 78.6 fils while Argan scaled 10 pct to stand next. Al Aqaria dived 9.6 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Salam topped the volume with over 17 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s strong gains, the winners vastly outnumbered the losers. 92 shares advanced whereas 13 closed lower. Of the 127 counters active on Tuesday, 13 closed flat. 10,689 deals worth KD 65.34 million were transacted during the session.

National Industries Group rose 6 fils to 240 fils after pushing 9.7 million shares at the counter while Mezzan Holding gave up 4 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co climbed 7 fils to 677 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was up 4 fils at 312 fils. Integrated Holding rallied 19 fils to 578 fils.

Slipped

Jazeera Airways sprinted 11 fils to KD 1.105 and ALAFCO slipped 6 fils to 260 fils after gaining 57 fils during last month. NAPESCO skidded 25 fils to KD 1.250 while AGHC scaled 8 fils to end at 265 fils. AAN ticked 0.1 fil higher on back of 5.6 million shares and SPEC added 1.2 fils to close at 81 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co rose 6 fils to 248 fils while Kuwait Portland Cement Co gained 7 fils with thin trading. Gulf Cement Co fell 1.7 fils to 49 fils whereas Fujairah Cement Co dialed up 2.1 fils. KCPC eased 1 fils to 264 fils and KPPC edged 0.6 fils higher to 49 fils. Equipment Holding took in 1.1 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co and ACICO took in 1 fil each to close at 480 fils and 127 fils respectively whereas Warbacap trimmed 2.7 fils before closing at 60.3 fils. Gulf Petroleum Investment edged 0.8 fil into green and Independent Petroleum gave up 3 fils before settling at 479 fils.

Combined Group Contracting Co rose 3 fils to 261 fils on back of 1.2 million shares while OSOS sprinted 8 fils to 111 fils. Kuwait Gulf Links dialed up 2 fils while KGL Logistics edged 0.9 fils into green. Al Rai Media Group paused at 37.5 fils and Inovest closed 2 fils up at 70.5 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts gave up 3.9 fils.

In the banking sector, Burgan Bank rallied 8 fils to 307 fils on back of 4.4 million shares after frittering away 6 fils during whole of December while Kuwait International Bank gained 4 fils and the counter saw 11.9 million shares change hands. Boubyan Bank pulled 10 fils higher to 661 fils.

Commercial Bank rose 3 fils to 548 fils with thin trading while Al Ahli Bank closed 6 fils in green. Ahli United Bank climbed 10 fils to 329 fils on back of 16.4 million shares and Warba Bank was up 4 fils at 276 fils after pushing 3.8 million shares during the session.

KIPCO added 3 fils before settling at 216 fils and Gulf Finance House dialed up 1.3 fils before closing at 69.3 fils. Kuwait Investment Co gained 6 fils on back of 1.5 million shares International Financial Advisors inched 0.6 fil into green and Coast Investment Co stood pat at 38.7 fils.

National Investment Co rose 3 fils on back of 2.4 million shares to 140 fils while FACIL was down 6 fils at 219 fils. Securities House trimmed 0.3 fil while Arzan and KMEFIC took in 0.2 fil each to wind up at 23.5 fils and 84.3 fils respectively. ALOLA added 1.5 fils on back of 13.8 million shares.

KAMCO rose 1 fil to 91 fils while NIH and Osoul dialed up 2 fils each to end at 80 fils and 75 fils respectively. Aayan closed 1.6 fils higher at 46 fils and KFIC ticked 0.4 fil higher to 50.4 fils. Madar climbed 3.9 fils to 93.9 fils and Sokouk closed 0.8 fil in green.

Noor Financial Investment Co rallied 11 fils to 138 fils on back of 3.5 million shares and Amwal gained 3 fils with thin trading. Bayan Investment rose 3.5 fils to 38.9 fils and Al Imtiaz took in 1 fil after pushing over 2 million shares.

Mabanee Co rose 3 fils to 925 fils while National Real Estate Co and Aayan Real Estate gained 2.5 fils each. Salhiya Real Estate inched 1 fil up to 410 fils and Tamdeen Real Estate closed 3 fils in green. Mazaya Holding added 1.8 fils on back of 1.4 million shares.