Kuwait market skids into red turf
National Bank of Kuwait dips 21 fils, Zain ticks up
KUWAIT CITY, April 15 : Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Wednesday snapping the three-day rebound. The All Shares Index skidded 62.18 points to 4,767.18 pts as investors booked profit mostly in blue chip counters.
The Premier Market dived 92.17 pts to 5,144.42 points taking the month’s losses to 44 points while Main Market fell a marginal 2.14 points. BK 50 Main was down 5.53 points at 3,979.16 points. The volume turnover meanwhile receded after scaling month’s high in the previous session. Over 134 million shares changed hands – a 30 pct dip from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red turf. Basic Materials outshone the rest with 0.35 percent gain whereas Banking sector shed 2.02 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Banking sector also topped in both volume and value with 91.4 million shares transacted for KD 29.79 million.
Among the prominent losers, National Bank of Kuwait partly erased last session’s gains with a 21 fils slide to 737 fils with a volume of 8.7 million shares while Kuwait Finance House shed 13 fils after trading 13.7 million shares. Gulf Bank was down 16 fils at 202 fils with brisk trading and has given up 101 fils year-to-date.
Zain took in 2 fils on back of 5.7 million shares before closing at 480 fils while Ooredoo fell 3 fils to 605 fils. stc added 2 fils while Agility was down 9 fils at 553 fils after pushing 2.2 million shares. Humansoft Holding ticked 1 fil lower to KD 2.575.
The market opened with small gapup and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 4,857 points and retreated as selling roiled the trading floor. It continued to erode for rest of the session and closed with hefty losses.
Top gainer of the day, Tamdeen Real Estate climbed 7.14 pct to 300 fils while Munshaat paced 6.68 percent to stand next. Gulf Bank skidded 7.3 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with 27.8 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s downswing, the losers outnumbered the winners. 36 stocks advanced whereas 54 closed lower. Of the 107 counters active on Wednesday, 17 closed flat. 9,615 deals worth KD 37.15 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group took in 1 fil on back of over 5 million shares while Mezzan Holding slipped 8 fils to 188 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dialed up 2 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co followed suit. Integrated Holding Co inched 1 fil higher. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.5 fil and KGL Logistics closed flat.
Jazeera Airways dropped 10 fils to 540 fils and ALAFCO ended 5 fils in red after trading over 3 million shares. KCPC slipped 6 fils to 260 fils and KPPC tripped 0.7 fil. IFA Hotels and Resorts was unchanged at 36 fils and Oula Fuel too did not budge from its previous close of 100 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co paused at 150 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement shed 19 fils. Gulf Cable gained 10 fils whereas Warbacap and Safat Energy stood pat at 55.5 fils and 14.5 fils respectively. Educational Holding Group slipped 5 fils to 255 fils and ACICO Industries took in 1 fil.
In the banking sector, Burgan Bank fell 3 fils to 211 fils whereas Kuwait International Bank paused at 192 fils. Boubyan Bank dropped 12 fils to 475 fils and Warba Bank clipped 3 fils. Ahli United Bank eased 1 fil to 197 fils while Al Ahli Bank and Al Mutahed took in 1 fil each.
KIPCO fell 3 fils to 159 fils while KAMCO ticked 0.1 fil lower. National Investment Co dialed up 0.9 fil and Bayan Investment Co trimmed 0.9 fil. Noor Invest clipped 1.1 fils and Tamdeen Investment Co shed 10 fils. Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) eased 0.2 fil to 90.7 fils.
The market has been largely upbeat so far during the week climbing 161 points in last four sessions. It has shed 55 points from start of the month and is trading 1,516 pts lower year-to-date.