Kuwait extends gains, volume soars
KFH rallies 12 fils, KIPCO slips
KUWAIT CITY, April 13: Kuwait shares pulled higher on Monday extending last session’s upswing. The All Shares Index gave up strong early gains to close 25.9 pts higher at 4,677.76 points helped by some of the banking majors even as the overall trend remained mixed.
The Premier Market sprinted 43.19 points to 5,027.96 pts paring the month’s losses to 171 points while Main Market was down 8.5 points at 3,989.45 pts. BK 50 Main climbed 10.94 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded after Sunday’s slide. Over 180 million shares changed hands – a 114 pct surge from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Telecommunications outpaced the rest with 1.45 pct gain whereas Oil and Gas dipped 1.65 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Banking sector continued to top in both volume and value with 122 million shares worth KD 36.2 million.
Among the standout performers, National Bank of Kuwait rallied 21 fils to 713 fils on back of 9.4 million shares and Kuwait Finance House too extended last session’s gains with 12 fils jump to 627 fils with brisk trading. Mabanee Co scaled 8 fils to close at 578 fils trimming the month’s losses to 56 fils.
Zain rose 10 fils to 472 fils with a volume 7.2 million shares and is down 122 fils year-to-date while Ooredoo climbed 9 fils to 599 fils. STC shed 17 fils partly erasing Sunday’s gains while Agility gave up 4 fils after pushing 2.3 million shares to wind up at 550 fils. Humansoft Holding skidded 160 fils to KD 2.490
The market opened firm and rose sharply in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 4,702 points amid strong buying in some of the blue chips and retreated. It bottomed at 4,670 points and drifted listlessly thereafter before closing with modest gains.
Top gainer of the day, Unicap jumped 10 pct to 39.6 fils while KFIC sprinted 9.9 percent to stand close behind. Argan skidded 22.89 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with 57.3 million shares.
Despite the day’s gains, the losers outnumbered the winners. 97 stocks advanced whereas 45 closed lower. Of the 97 counters active on Monday, 13 closed flat. 7,744 deals worth KD 45 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 148 fils after pushing over 3 million shares while Mezzan Holding gained 6 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co scaled 4 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co took in 1 fil. Integrated Holding Co gave up 8 fils before settling at 422 fils.
Jazeera Airways climbed 11 fils to 515 fils and ALAFCO dialed up 2 fils. Independent Petroleum Group shed 20 fils and OSOS tripped 1 fil before ending at 99 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts fell 2.7 fils to 34.9 fils and Inovest followed suit. Educational Holding slipped 9 fils to 241 fils. NAPESCO paused at KD 1.100.
Kuwait Cement Co was unchanged at 150 fils and Hilal Cement erased 3.4 fils to end at 66.2 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co scaled 12 fils and Warbacap added 2.7 fils. Gulf Cable clipped 1 fil and Kuwait National Cinema Co skidded 38 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co was up 9 fils at 223 fils.
In the banking sector, Burgan Bank and Gulf Bank gained 5 fils each on back of over 6 million shares while Boubyan Bank stood pat at 475 fils. Kuwait International Bank eased 1 fil and Ahli United Bank shed 11 fils. Warba Bank clipped 2 fils whereas Al Ahli Bank and Al Mutahed added 4 fils each.
KIPCO fell 3 fils to 159 fils while KAMCO and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) trimmed 0.2 fil each. Noor Invest took in 0.1 fil and KMEFIC paused at 80 fils. Tamdeen Investment dipped 19 fils to 368 fils.
The market has been trending higher so far during the week gaining 80 points in last two sessions. It had tumbled 146 points from start of the month and is trading 1,605 pts lower year-to-date.