Kuwait index edges lower, volume rises
National Bank of Kuwait slips 8 fils, Humansoft gains
By John Mathews
KUWAIT CITY, April 20: Kuwait stocks slipped into red on Monday following last session’s rebound. The All Shares Index dropped 12.72 pts in slightly volatile trade to 4,797.65 points weighed by some of the heavy weights even as the overall sentiment remained fickle in absence of cues.
The Premier Market slipped 16.55 points to 5,191.26 pts taking the month’s losses to 7 points while Main Market fell 4.99 points. BK 50 Main was down 12.09 points at 4,006.18 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile swung higher after receding in last three sessions. Over 102 million shares changed hands – a 25 percent jump from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Consumer Sector outshone the rest with 0.53 pct gain whereas Consumer Goods dipped 3.46 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Banking sector continued to top in both volume and value with 60.9 million shares worth KD 19.3 million.
Among day’s losers, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 8 fils to 730 fils with a volume of over 3 million while Gulf Bank gave up 4 fils before settling at 201 fils after pushing over 9 million shares. Burgan Bank too was down 4 fils at 211 fils and the counter saw 8.5 million shares change hands.
Zain fell 3 fils to 489 fils after trading 2.9 million shares and STC eased 0.8 fils to 59.1 fils following last session’s gains. Logistics major Agility added 3 fils on back of 1.8 million shares to close at 563 fils while Humansoft Holding sprinted 42 fils to KD 2.602.
The market opened steady and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 4,830 points and pivoted as selling weighed on some of the counters . It plumbed the day’s lowest level of 4,803 pts and clawed back some of the losses before meandering again into red at close.
Top gainer of the day, FutureKid soared 25.9 pct to 88.3 fils and Injazzat climbed 9.9 pct to stand next. Marakez skidded 10 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with 21.2 million shares.
Mirroring the day’s losses, the losers outnumbered the winners, 32 stocks advanced whereas 45 closed lower. Of the 98 counters active on Monday, 21 closed flat. 5,963 deals worth KD 26.6 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group rose 3 fils to 167 fils on back of 2.8 million shares while Mezzan Holding skidded 27 fils to 608 fils partly erasing last session’s robust gains. Boubyan Petrochemical Co slipped 6 fils to 496 fils and Mezzan Holding gave up most of Sunday’s gains with a 27 fils drop. Integrated Holding was down 13 fils at 444 fils.
Jazeera Airways rose 3 fils to 543 fils taking the month’s gains to 33 fils while ALAFCO fell 4 fils each to close at 156 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts clipped 1.5 fils while KCPC and Kuwait Foundry Co stood pat at 269 fils and 230 fils respectively. Mashaer Holding was down 4.6 fils at 53.4 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co paused at 151 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement too did not budge from its earlier close of 868 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co was unchanged at 384 fils an ACICO Industries paced 5 fils. Gulf Cable dialed down 2 fils .
In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House took in 2 fils on back of 11.7 million shares while Kuwait International Bank and Boubyan Bank clipped 2 fils each. Ahli United Bank added 2 fils and Al Ahli Bank fell 2 fils to 172 fils. Warba Bank paused at 191 fils and Al Mutahed tripped 1 fil.
KIPCO inched 1 fil up to 163 fils and KAMCO paced 4 fils. Tamdeen Investment Co shed 12 fils and KMEFIC took in 0.3 fil. Osoul and FACIL clipped 2 fils each whereas Bayan Investment Co closed flat. Mabanee Co gained 6 fils.
The market has been mixed so far during the week and has climbed 51 points in last two sessions . It has slipped 23 points from start of the month and is trading 1,485 pts lower year-to-date.