Kuwait bourse heads south, volume swells

NBK drops 10 fils, Markaz gains

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Kuwait stocks headed south on Sunday to kick off the week on a sour note. The All Shares Index dipped 35.96 pts to 6,333.15 points weighed by some of the heavyweights even as the overall mood remained mixed.

The Premier Market skidded 37.74 pts to 7,068.08 points taking the month’s gains to 93 pts while Main Market was down 32.7 points at 4,874.93 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for the fourth straight session. Over 281 million shares changed hands – 4 pct rise from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Consumer Good outshone the rest with 1 pct gain whereas Health Care shed 1.2 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, Financial Services topped with 194.3 million shares and the sector also were ahead in value with KD 14.5 million.

Among the notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 10 fils to KD 1.085 after pushing 2.9 million shares at the counter while Gulf Bank was down 4 fils at 310 fils. Commercial Bank skidded 32 fils to 520 fils with thin trading and Tamdeen Investment Co shed 25 fils before settling at 335 fils.

Zain slipped 7 fils to 590 fils after trading 3.8 million shares whereas Ooredoo gave up 6 fils to end at 784 fils. STC clipped 2 fils and logistics major Agility rose 3 fils to 829 fils. Humansoft Holding fell 2 fils to KD 3.138.

The market opened firm and ticked up in early trade. The main index peaked at 6,377 pts and headed south as sentiment turned negative. It drifted sideways past the mid-session and eroded further in the final minutes to close with moderate losses.

Top gainer of the day, AAN soared 17.6 percent to 18 fils and Al Aqaria climbed 10.7 pct to stand next. Osoul tumbled 15.34 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Arzan topped the volume with 41.7 million shares.

Despite the day’s dip, the losers outnumbered the winners. 59 stocks advanced whereas 53 closed lower. Of the 133 counters active on Sunday, 21 closed flat.

8,373 deals worth KD 34 million were transacted during the session.

National Industries Group took in 1 fil on back of 14.3 million shares to close at 245 fils and Mezzan Holding clipped 2 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 5 fils to 688 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co took in 1 fil. Intgrated Holding Co took in 1 fil.

Kuwait Portland Cement fell 1 fil to 981 fils while Kuwait Cement Co added 10 fils with razor thin volume. Gulf Cement Co dialed up 1.1 fils while Fujairah Cement Co closed unchanged at 47.5 fils. Safat Energy ticked 0.7 fil higher and Energy Holding closed 1.5 fils in green.

Jazeera Airways jumped 31 fils to KD 1.084 and ALAFCO took in 2 fils. Independent Petroleum Group stood pat at 480 fils and Gulf Petroleum Investment tripped 0.2 fil after pushing 4.7 million shares. FutureKid paused at 100 fils and Soor Fuel clipped 2 fils before ending at 124 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co jumped 13 fils to 337 fils and Gulf Cable was unchanged at 507 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co fell 2 fils to 406 fils and AGHC shed 8 fils. UPAC held ground at 461 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts too did not budge from its earlier close of 56.9 fils.

Combined Group Contracting Co inched 1 fil higher to 254 fils and Mashaer Holding trimmed 0.7 fil. Salbookh took in 0.4 fil and Educational Holding sprinted 14 fils to 364 fils. ACICO Industries fell 1 fil to 125 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Links inched 0.4 fil higher to 61.4 fils and KGL Logistics ticked 0.1 fil into green. KCPC slipped 7 fils to 258 fils and KPPC gave up 0.4 fil to finish at 50.4 fils. Inovest tripped 0.5 fil and SPEC dialed up 0.2 fil. Al Rai Media Group added 0.6 fil to close at 36 fils.

In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House fell 2 fils to 818 fils after trading 4.8 million shares while Kuwait International Bank stood pat at 282 fils. Burgan Bank dialed down 1 fil and Boubyan Bank fell 3 fils to 657 fils.

Al Ahli Bank tripped 2 fils after trading over 1 million shares and Al Mutahed was down by same measure. Warba Bank fell 3 fils to 279 fils with a volume of 1.6 million and Ahli United Bank clipped 1 fil with brisk trading.

KIPCO eased 1 fil to 212 fils and Gulf Finance House edged 0.4 fil higher to 68.4 fils. Kuwait Investment Co rallied 6 fils on back of 1.6 million shares and FACIL was unchanged at 220 fils. International Financial Advisors took in 0.6 fil before settling at 0.6 fil.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) gained 4 fils on back of 12.3 million shares and National Investment Co rose 4 fils to 153 fils. Securities House added 1.5 fils after pushing 2.4 million shares and Aayan gained 4.6 fils with heavy trading. KMEFIC and Al Aman dialed up 2 fils and Coast Investment Co dialed up 0.8 fil.

KAMCO and NIH took in 1 fil each to close at 91 fils and 81 fils respectively while ALOLA edged 0.9 fil into green on back of 37.2 million shares. Osoul skidded 14.5 fils to 80 fils while Al Deera Holding and Ektittab Holding dialed up 0.1 fil each.

Noor Financial Centre fell 2 fils to 155 fils and Al Imtiaz slipped 5 fils to 129 fils after trading 18.3 million shares. Al Salam inched 0.2 fil up to 30.1 fils and KFIC took in 0.9 fil. Kuwait Insurance Co dropped 10 fils to 330 fils and Aheia Insurance crept 1 fil into green. First Takaful dropped 4.5 fils.

Mabanee Co was flat at 923 fils and Kuwait Real Estate tripped 1 fil. United Real Estate was flat at 62 fils and National Real Estate Co edged 0.4 fil into red after trading 2.4 million shares. Al Aqaria gained 3 fils and Aayan Real Estate clipped 2 fils. Salhia Real Estate sprinted 11 fils to 455 fils.

The market was mixed during last week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions gaining 18 points week-on-week . It has climbed 52 points so far during the month after rallying 1,203 points during whole of last year.