Kuwait index extends losses, volume ‘soars’
NBK tumbles 24 fils, KAMCO gains
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 27: Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Monday extending the losses to second straight session. The All Shares skidded 50.39 pts to 6,282.76 points as selling pressure weighed on most of the heavyweights led by National Bank of Kuwait.
The Premier Market tumbled 68.5 points to 6,999.58 pts paring the month’s gains to 25 points while Main Market was down 12.9 points at 4,861.98 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile soared past the 300 million mark for the first time during the month. Over 340 million shares changed hands – a 21 pct surge from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red turf. Insurance sector outshone the rest with 0.96 pct gain whereas Basic Materials shed 1.1 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise topped with 180.2 million while in value, Banking sector dominated with KD 26.3 million.
Among the notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait tumbled 24 fils to KD 1.061 after trading over 12 million shares while Burgan Bank was down 5 fils at 307 fils. Humansoft Holding dived 19 fils to KD 3.119 trimming the month’s gains to 107 fils.
Zain slipped 6 fils to 584 fils after pushing 2.8 million shares while Ooredoo bucked the trend with 3 fils rise to 787 fils. STC gave up 9 fils before settling at 769 fils and Agility was down 6 fils at 823 fils with a volume of 1.4 million. Integrated Holding closed 5 fils in red.
The market opened firm and moved sideways in early trade. The main index drifted lower before turning trading flat half way into the session. It slipped further amid selling in some of the heavyweights and drifted listlessly again the final hour before closing with hefty losses.
Top gainer of the day, Marakez soared 15 .6 pct to 28.9 fils and AAN climbed 11.67 percent to stand next. Amar tumbled 18.9 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and ALOLA topped the volume with 57.4 million.
Mirroring the day’s dip, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 39 stocks advanced whereas 74 closed lower. Of the 129 counters active on Monday, 16 closed flat. 9,951 deals worth KD45.67 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 244 fils after trading over 3 million shares while Mezzan Holding sprinted 5 fils to 491 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dropped 10 fils to 678 fils erasing last session’s modest gains and Al Qurain fell 3 fils to 307 fils. Gulf Cable slipped 501 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co soared 30 fils to KD 1.000.
Jazeera Airways dived 34 fils to KD 1.050 and ALAFCO gave up 4 fils before closing at 245 fils. Mashaer Holding tripped 0.8 fil and Soor Fuel dialed down 2 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co dipped 7 fils to 330 fils while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co clipped 1 fil.
Dropped
Kuwait Portland Cement dropped 10 fils to 971 fils while ACICO Industries trimmed 1 fil before ending at 124 fils. Gulf Cement Co was unchanged at 49.1 fils and Fujairah Cement ticked 0.2 fil higher to 47.7 fils. Al Manar edged 0.9 fil lower to 56.1 fils.
Burgan Well Drilling Co sprinted 7.1 fils to 78.3 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts gave up 0.4 fil to 56.5 fils. Equipment Holding took in 0.4 fil while Salbookh and Sultan Centre stood pat at 19.7 fils and 54.9 fils respectively. Safat Energy eased 0.2 fil to 22.7 fils.
Educational Holding Co dropped 9 fils to 355 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co fell 2 fils to 252 fils. KPPC tripped 0.7 fil and KCPC dialed up 2 fils before closing at 260 fils. Warbacap gave up 3 fils to close at 63 fils and Gulf Petroleum Investment tickd 0.6 fil higher on back of over 10 million shares
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co fell 0.8 fil to 60.6 fils and KGL Logistics closed 0.4 fil in red with a volume of over 1 million. AAN added 2.1 fils with brisk trading and SPEC gave up 0.6 fil. AGHC slid 19 fils to 225 fils
In the banking sector , Kuwait Finance House eased 1 fil to 817 fils after trading 9.5 million shares while Kuwait International Bank stood pat at 282 fils with a volume of 3.2 million. Gulf Bank gave up 2 fils before settling at 308 fils and Boubyan Bank followed suit to close at 655 fils.
Commercial Bank fell 2 fils to 518 fils with thin trading while Al Ahlia Bank was down 3 fils at 265 fils. Warba Bank tripped 1 fil and Ahli United Bank gave up 2 fils after trading 7.6 million shares. Al Mutahed eased 1 fil to 338 fils.
KIPCO fell 2 fils to 210 fils and Gulf Finance House trimmed 0.7 fil before settling at 67.7 fils. Kuwait Investment Co eased 1 fil to 162 fils with a volume of 3.7 million a while Coast Investment and Al Mal trimmed 5 fils each. Securities House gave up 0.7 fil whereas GIH added 1.9 fils.
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) slipped 5 fils to 114 fils after trading 5.3 million shares while National Investment Co fell 3 fils to 150 fils after pushig 1.9 million shares. Arzan clipped 1.5 fils with brisk trading and FACIL stood pat at 220 fils. International Financial Advisors took in 0.8 fil.
KAMCO climbed 5 fils to 96 fils on back of over 1 million shares and KFIC dialed up 0.4 fil. Al Deera Holding and Al Salaam tripped 0.2 fil each whereas Ektittab Holding paused at 14.9 fils. Unicap fell 1.9 fils to 50.1 fils and Al Aman clipped 2 fils before ending at 59 fils.
Bayan Investment eased 0.2 fil to 37.8 fils and Osoul gained 6 fils. KMEFIC added 0.4 fil and Al Madina inched 0.3 fil on back of 3.6 million shares. Tamdeen Investment jumped 26 fils to 361 fils and Al Imtiaz closed flat at 129 fils. Noor Financial Centre rallied 6 fils on back of 2.5 million shares.
Mabanee Co slipped 3 fils to 920 fils while National Real Estate Co trimmed 0.7 fil. Kuwait Real Estate and United Real Estate clipped 1 fil each whereas Tamdeen Real Estate shed 14 fils.
The market has been weak so far during the week shedding 87 points in last two session. The main index is unchanged from start of the month after rallying 1203 points during whole of last year.