Kuwait wraps up month on high note
Agility rallies 33 fils, Integrated Holding dips
KUWAIT CITY, April 30: Kuwait stocks notched strong gains on Thursday to wrap up the month on a high note. The All Shares Index rallied 86.5 points to 4,975.39 pts in broad advance led by blue chips.
The Premier Market soared 90.56 points to 5,356 pts taking the month’s gains to 158 points while Main Market sprinted 78.62 points. BK- 50 Main index jumped 70.74 points to 4,187.27 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose slightly following last session’s downtick. Over 220 million shares changed hands – down 1.8 pct from the day before.
Among the day’s prime movers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rallied 10 fils on back of 8.6 million shares while Burgan Bank climbed 13 fils to 208 fils after pushing over 5 million shares. Mabanee Co extended its winning streak with a 10 fils gain and settled at 636 fils.
Zain soared 17 fils to 530 fils on back of 3.5 million shares while Ooredoo scaled 20 fils to close at 646 fils. stc rose 8 fils to 840 fils and Agility rallied 33 fils after moving 4.2 million shares. Humansoft Holding leapt 149 fils to KD 2.849 taking the month’s gains to 499 fils.
The market opened firm and headed north in early trade. The main index continued to rise and peaked at 4,982 points past the half way mark amid strong buying across the board. It drifted sideways thereafter before closing with hefty gains.
Top gainer of the day, Danah Al Safat Foodstuff Co spiked over 20 pct while Taamer sprinted 15.7 pct to stand next. Integrated Holding skidded 5.6 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with over 28 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s surge, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the winners. 82 stocks advanced whereas 16 closed lower. Of the 115 counters active on Thursday, 17 closed flat. 8,901 deals worth KD43.2 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group rose 4 fils on back of over 8 million shares whereas Mezzan Holding stood pat at 590 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co scaled 6 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was up 7 fils at 238 fils. Jazeera Airways added 7 fils after Wednesday’s strong gains while ALAFCO closed 5 fils in green.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank rose 5 fils to 216 fils on back of 7.7 million shares while Kuwait Finance House dialed up 1 fil with brisk trading. Kuwait International Bank gained 4 fils and Warba Bank was up 7 fils at 211 fils. Al Mutahed paced 14 fils and Boubyan Bank sprinted 6 fils to 500 fils.
The market was buoyant during the week. The main index closed higher in all the five sessions rallying 290 points week-on-week. It has gained 153 points during whole of April and is trading 1,307 pts lower year-to-date.