Kuwaiti index ends in red, volume edges up By John Mathews

NBK drops 10 fils, KAMCO gains

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 18: Kuwait stocks slid into red on Tuesday as it resumed its losing streak after last session’s modest upswing. The All Shares Index dipped 50.17 points to 6,139 points dragged by blue chips even as the sentiment turned sour.

The Premier Market dived 72.27 points to 6,801.61 pts taking the month’s losses to 232 points while Premier Market fell 5.9 pts to 4,829.59 points. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a modest rise following two-day drop. Over 190 million shares changed hands – a 12 pct increase from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Technology outshone the rest with 5.5 pct gain whereas Consumer Goods shed 3 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 72.9 million shares while in value Banking Sector was ahead wit KD 21 million.

Among notable movers, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 10 fils to KD 1.015 after trading 7.3 million while Kuwait Financial House slipped 5 fils to 804 fils with a volume of over 7.5 million shares and is down 33 fils from start of the month. KAMCO climbed 10.5 fils to 109 fils.

Zain dipped 10 fils to 566 fils taking year-to-date losses to 34 fils while Ooredoo was down 11 fils at 771 fils. STC gave up 12 fils before settling at 788 fils and Agility slipped 12 fils to 800 fils after pushing over 1 million shares. Humansoft Holding clipped 2 fils before settling at KD 3.278.

The market opened firm and headed south in early trade. The main index continued to erode amid selling in most of the heavyweights and saw a brief uptick past the mid-session. It however slipped again and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,129 pts before clawing back some of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, KAMCO rallied 10.6 pct to 109 fils and Madar sprinted 9.7 percent to stand next. Gulf Finance Co skidded 17.76 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Arzan topped the volume with 17.6 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s dip, the losers vastly outnumbered the winners. 74 stocks advanced whereas 34 closed lower. Of the 124 counters active on Tuesday, 16 closed lower. 124 deals worth KD 33.39 million were transacted during the session.

National Industries Group fell 2 fils to 237 fils while Mezzan Holding dropped 19 fils to 488 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co was unchanged at 637 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical was down 9 fils at 275 fils. Integrated Holding closed 4 fils in red.

Jazeera Airways was unchanged at KD 1.010 and ALAFCO clipped 2 fils. EK Holding soared 28 fils to 390 fils and PAPCO fell 6 fils to 54 fils. Mashaer Holding added 3.3 fils and Jiyad took in 3.2 fils to close at 44.4 fils. Ajwan ticked 0.5 fil higher on back of over 13 million shares.

Dropped

Kuwait Cement Co dialed up 2 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement dropped 11 fils to 941 fils. Gulf Cement Co fell 1.4 fils to 46.8 fils and Fujairah Cement trimmed 0.5 fil. SPEC erased 0.9 fil and Thuraya shed 11.4 fils before settling at 73 fils. Amar took in 1 fil and Soor eased 1 fil to 125 fils.

Kuwait National Cinema Co sprinted 8 fils to 828 fils and ACICO closed 1 fils in red. Gulf Cable slipped 6 fils to 486 fils and Salbookh inched 0.4 fil higher to 48.34 fils. Equipment Holding tripped 0.6 fils and Sultan Centre dialed up 1.5 fils. Salbookh edged 0.4 fil higher to 48.4 fils.

Combined Group Contracting Co was unchanged at 249 fils while Automated Systems Co dialed up 3.6 fils. KCPC pasued at 281 fils and KPPC inched 0.3 fil into green. Energy Holding fell 1.6 fils to 21 fils and Safat Energy eased 0.1fil to 21.9 fils.

IFA Hotels and Resorts tripped 1 fils while AAN amd Gulf Petroleum Investment eased 0.2 fil each with brisk trading. Al Rai Media Group added 1.5 fils and Soor Fuel dialed down 1 fil. NICBM closed 1 fil in green.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank dropped 4 fils after pushing 3.9 million shares and Kuwait International Bank tripped 1 fil to close at 275 fils. Burgan Bank gave up 3 fils and Boubyan Bank clipped 1 fil.

Commercial Bank was unchanged at 506 fils while Al Ahli Bank and Warba Bank tripped 1 fil each to close at 260 fils and 274 fils respectively. Al Mutahed fell 3 fils to 339 fils.

KIPCO fell 2 fils to 205 fils while Kuwait Investment Co and FACIL were down 5 fils each to close at 160 fils and 205 fils respectively. International Financial Advisors took in 1.1 fils and Coast Investment Co tripped 1 fil after trading 1.6 million shares.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) eased 1 fil to 113 fils after trading 1.9 million shares and National Investment Co slipped 3 fils to 139 fils. Al Mal Investment took in added 0.9 fil on back of 5.5 million shares while ALOLA took in 0.2 fil with brisk trading.

Bayan Investment dialed up 0.5 fil and KMEFIC fell 2.5 fils to 86 fils. Ektittab Holding erased 0.8 fil to close at 15.4 fils and Aayan followed suit after trading 10.7 million shares. Tamdeen Investment gained 5 fils and First Takaful clipped 1.4 fils.

Noor Financial Investment fell 3 fils to 157 fils and Al Madina tripped 0.6 fil before ending at 16.3 fils. Madar Finance sprinted 8.5 fils and Sokouk gave up 0.7 fil. KFIC dialed up 0.8 fil and Osoul ticked 1 fil into green. Arzan crept 0.3 fil higher to 0.3 fil and Al Imtiaz paused at 126 fils.

Mabanee Co fell 3 fils to 875 fils with a volume of over 1 million and Kuwait Real Estate inched 0.1 fil down after trading 2.3 million shares. United Real Estate inched 0.1 fil up and National Real Estate Co erased 0.7 fil. Tamdeen Real Estate stood pat at 304 fils.

Salhiya Real Estate dialed up 2 fils and AREEC skidded 19 fils to 177 fils. Mazaya Holding fell 1.1 fils to 63 fils and Tijara climbed 4.7 fils. Injazzat took in 1 fil and Investors Holding trimmed 0.6 fil with brisk trading.

The market has been largely dull so far during the week shedding 70 points in last three sessions. It has tumbled 185 pts so far during the month and is trading 125 pts down year-to-date..