Kuwait bourse extends losses
Humansoft skids 130 fils, Gulf Bank ticks up
KUWAIT CITY, May 4: Kuwait stocks headed south on Monday extending last session’s slide. The All Shares Index dipped 55.15 pts in choppy session to 4830.36 points led by heavyweights even as the overall mood remained soggy.
The Premier Market slid 65.58 points to 5182.49 pts while Main Market was down 34.32 points at 4138.72 pts. The BK 50 Main Index shed 61.7 pts to close at 4039.96 points. The volume turnover meanwhile receded for the second straight session. Over 95 million shares changed hands – down 35 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Consumer Goods, the only gainer, rose 0.21 pct whereas Oil and Gas shed 2.18 percent, the worst performer of the day. Banking sector continued to top in both volume and value with 59.32 million shares traded for KD 19.17 million.
Among the prominent losers, National Bank of Kuwait extended its descent with 14 fils drop to 714 fils with a volume of 7.5 million while Kuwait Finance House gave up 10 fils to close at 575 fils after pushing 9.5 million shares. Mabanee Co was down 9 fils at 620 fils and has shed 285 fils year-to-date.
Zain slipped 6 fils to 509 fils after trading 2.2 million shares and Ooredoo dipped 30 fils to 619 fils. STC gave up 9 fils and Agility fell 4 fils to 629 fils extending Sunday’s pullback. Humansoft Holding tumbled 130 fils to KD 2.700. The stock had gained 490 fils during whole of April while KIPCO paused at 170 fils.
The market opened flat and slipped into red in early trade. The main index continued to erode amid weak sentiment and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 4817 points past the mid-session. It moved sideways thereafter and closed with moderate losses.
Top gainer of the day, Masaken rallied 20.6 pct to 35 fils and NICBM climbed 10.6 percent to stand next. NIH skidded 9.5 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with 31.4 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s losses, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 23 stocks advanced whereas 65 closed lower. Of the 102 counters active on Monday, 14 closed flat. 6361 deals worth KD 24.9 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group dialed up 2 fils on back of 3.8 million shares whereas Mezzan Holding gave up 4 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co fell 3 fils to 492 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co followed suit. Integrated Holding Co shed 12 fls.
Jazeera Airways skidded 28 fils to 565 fils and NAPESCO plunged 40 fils. Kuwait Portland Cement slid 30 fils to 740 fls and Kuwait Cement Co gained 8 fils. NICBM was up 16 fils at 166 fils and Gulf Cable tripped 3 fils.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank took in 2 fils whereas Burgan Bank stood pat at 201 fils, Boubyan Bank extended Sunday’s losses with 9 fils drop to 478 fils and Kuwait International Bank closed 3 fils in red.
The market has been receding so far during the week shedding 144 points in last two sessions. It had gained 153 points during whole of April and is trading 1342 pts lower year-to-date.