Kuwait bourse winds up week in deep red

Mabanee Co dips 21 fils, KIPCO flat

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 24: Kuwait stocks tumbled on Monday as the market closed the holiday-shortened week on a dull note. The All Shares Index skidded 99 points in a broad decline to 6,072.05 pts led by blue-chips as investors exited positions ahead of the holidays.

The Premier Market slid 118.37 pts to 6,730.18 points trimming the month’s losses to 303 points while Main Market dipped 60.45 pts to 4,769.33 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded after hitting month’s lowest level in the previous session.

All sectors closed in red. Technology sank 9.97 pct, the worst performer of the day while Consumer services eased 0.39 percent, the smallest loser. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 68.4 million shares while Banking Sector dominated with KD 29 million.

Among day’s prominent losers, National Bank of Kuwait dipped 11 fils to KD 1.013 after trading 6.2 million shares while Kuwait Finance House was down 12 fils at 794 fils paring the month’s losses to 44 fils. Mabanee Co skidded 21 fils to 849 fils extending Sunday’s losses.

Zain dived 19 fils to 560 fils with a volume of 4.6 million and Ooredoo shed 15 fils to close at 764 fils. STC fell 2 fils to 780 fils and Agility skidded 14 fils to 795 fils after trading 1.4 million shares. Humansoft Holding tumbled 41 fils to KD 3.190.

The market opened firm and held steady briefly before heading south. The main index continued to erode amid selling across the sectors and bottomed at 6,068 points past the mid-session. It drifted sideways before closing with heavy losses.

Top gainer of the day, FutureKid rose 5.83 pct to 109 fils and Al Rai Media Group climbed 5.43 percent to stand next. Tamdeen Investment skidded 9.9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with over 24 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s slide, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the losers. 15 stocks advanced whereas 111 closed lower. Of the 137 counters active on Monday, 15 closed flat. 10,009 deals worth KD 45.42 million were transacted during the session.

National Industries Group slipped 8 fils 229 fils after trading 10.5 million shares and Mezzan Holding was down 10 fils at 475 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co fell 3 fils to 631 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical clipped 2 fils before settling at 272 fils. Integrated Holding was down 6 fils at 544 fils.

Jazeera Airways slipped 4 fils to KD 1.005 and ALAFCO gave up 5 fils to close at 261 fils. SPEC fell 4.9 fils to 75 fils and Thuraya closed 4.6 fils in red. Soor Fuel paused at 125 fils and Inovest tripped 0.2 fil. Masaken erased 3.9 fils before winding up at 39.3 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co fell 3 fils to 212 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement dropped 8 fils. Gulf Cement Co eased 0.1 fil to 49.3 fils and Fujairah Cement Co gave up 3 fils. Hilal Cement climbed 4.9 fils to 100 fils and Equipment Holding took in 0.4 fil.

Combined Group Contracting Co dipped 8 fils to 240 fils and OSOS dialed down 2 fils. KPPC fell 4 fils to 48 fils and KCPC was down 9 fils at 282 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts dropped 4 fils and Mashaer Holding ended 2.3 fils in red after trading over 1 million shares.

Kuwait Foundry Co was unchanged at 330 fils and Warbcap too did not budge from its earlier close of 55 fils. Safat Energy clipped 0.6 fil and Energy Holding edged 0.9 fil down to 20.9 fils. Salbookh clipped 2.4 fils and Kuwait National Cinema Co eased 1 fil.

Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co took in 0.5 fil and KGL Logistics trimmed 1.5 fils after trading over 6 million shares. Automated Systems Co shed 6.8 fils and Educational Holding slipped 4 fils to 355 fils. NICBM dialed down 2 fils and Gulf Cable skidded 12 fils to 478 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank dived 10 fils to 285 fils after trading 7.2 million shares and Kuwait International Bank tripped 1 fil. Burgan

Bank was down 8 fils at 292 fils and Boubyan Bank slipped 9 fils to 637 fils.

Commercial Bank was unchanged at 500 fils after trading 3.7 million shares while Al Ahli Bank dialed down 2 fils. Warba Bank fell 4 fils to 269 fils and Ahli United Bank dropped 7 fils with brisk trading. Al Mutahed closed 4 fils in red.

KIPCO was unchanged at 206 fils and Kuwait Investment Co gave up 7 fils before closing at 154 fils with a volume of over 4 million. FACIL fell 2 fils to 210 fils and International Financial Advisors clipped 1.1 fils. Coast Investment trimmed 2.2 fils and Securities House eased 0.7 fil to 46 fils.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) fell 3 fils to 109 fils and Arzan closed 2.1 fils in red. Al Aman clipped 1 fil and ALOLA closed 1.6 fils down after pushing 9.8 million shares. GIH edged 1.5 fils into red and Aayan ticked 0.1 fil lower to 46.4 fils.

Bayan Investment tripped 1.4 fils and KMEFIC was down 4.8 fils at 83.6 fils. Osoul fell 3.5 fils to 82 fils and Unicap clipped 1 fil. Al Madina took in 0.4 fil on back of 9.4 million shares and Ektittab Holding trimmed 0.5 fil. KFIC slipped 4.9 fils to 48 fils.

Noor Financial Investment dropped 3 fils to 154 fils and Sokouk erased 1.3 fils with a volume of 1.4 million. KSHC fell 2.5 fils to 30 fils and GNAHC gave up 2.9 fils, Al Imtiaz trimmed 1 fil and Kuwait Insurance Co dialed down 3 fils. Gulf Insurance Co skidded 15 fils.

Kuwait Real Estate eased 1 fil to 101 fils and United Real Estate ticked 0.1 fil into red. National Real Estate Co clipped 0.7 fil with a volume of 1.9 million. Salhiya Real Estate erased 4 fils and Tamdeen Real Estate gave up 5 fils before closing at 296 fils.

AREEC shed 8 fils and Injazzat dialed up 2 fils. Aqar dropped 5 fils to 77 fils and Tijara closed 3 fils in red. Mazaya Holding dialed down 2 fils.

The market was downbeat during the week. The main index closed lower in both the sessions falling 116 points week-on-week. It has tumbled 252 pts so far during the month and is trading 210 pts down year-to-date.