Kuwait’s market swings higher, volume recedes
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 16: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Wednesday after treading water in the previous session. The All Shares Index climbed 33.69 points to 5,394.83 pts helped by some of the heavyweights even as the overall mood remained mixed.
The Premier Market rallied 51.69 points to 5,933.97 pts while Main Market gave up 3.53 points. The BK Main Index was up 4.14 pts at 4,374.66 points. The volume turnover meanwhile receded after hitting a multi-month high in the previous session. Over 450 million shares changed hands – down 10 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Real Estate outpaced the rest with 1.33 pct gain whereas Technology slumped 8.6 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 130.6 million shares while Banking sector was ahead in value with KD 26.9 million.
Among the notable movers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rose 5 fils to 866 fils on back of 2.8 million shares and Kuwait Finance House paced 4 fils to end at 634 fils after pushing 12.8 million shares. Mabanee Co extended last session’s gains with a 33 fils jump to 690 fils and the newly trading Boursa gave up 20 fils to close at KD 1.010.
Zain rose 3 fils to 576 fils after moving 1.7 million shares and Ooredoo was up 5 fils at 605 fils. stc paused at 844 fils following Tuesday’s fall while Agility was up 4 fils at 629 fils. Humansoft Holding sprinted 35 fils to KD 2.830 and KIPCO inched 1 fil higher to 153 fils. KAMCO edged 0.9 fil higher to 72 fils.
The market opened firm and moved higher in early trade. The main index eased and drifted listlessly amid mixed sentiment and headed north past the mid-session. It scaled the day’s highest level of 5,399 points and sagged slightly again to close with modest gains.
Top gainer of the day, Masaken soared 13.2 pct to 30 fils and REMAL climbed 10 pct to stand next. Thuraya skidded 19.2 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding topped the volume with117.5 million shares.
Despite the day’s drop, the losers outnumbered the winners. 56 stocks advanced whereas 63 closed lower. Of the 128 counters active on Wednesday, 9 closed flat. 14,326 deals worth KD 56.3 million were transacted during the session. National Industries Group climbed 4 fils to 173 fils on back of 6.7 million shares while Mezzan Holding gave up 9 fils before ending at 616 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co jumped 17 fils to 557 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical dialed down 2 fils. Integrated Holding slipped 7 fils to 375 fils and Aznoula gave up 4 fils.
Jazeera Airways rose 5 fils to 579 fils and ALAFCO added 3 fils on back of 3.3 million shares. Oula Fuel was flat at 110 fils and Soor clipped 1 fil. Inovest added 3.3 fils and QIC erased 3.8 fils to end at 73.6 fils. Energy Holding and Mashaer Holding took in 0.5 fil each and Thuraya slid 21.9 fils to 92.1 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co fell 3 fils to 195 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement saw a 9 fils pullback. Gulf Cement Co ticked 0.2 fil higher to 33.5 fils and OSOS eased 0.1 fils. Gulf Petroleum Investment clipped 1 fil after pushing 20.9 million shares and IFA Hotels and Resorts added 1.3 fils.
Kuwait Foundry Co sprinted 12 fils to 250 fils and Kuwait Natio0nal Cinema Co dialed up 2 fils. Educational Holding Co gave up 9 fils and Automated Systems Co was down 6. 2 fils at 65.8 fils. Warbacap trimmed 1.6 fils and Gulf Cable was unchanged at 667 fils. Equipment Holding edged 0.8 fil into red.
Combined Group Contracting Co sprinted 13 fils to 171 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co fell 3.9 fils. Kuwait Gulf Links Transport Co eased 0.8 fil to 44.7 fils and Inovest added 3 fils. KPPC took in 1 fil and KCPC gave up 4 fils.
In the banking sector, Burgan Bank took in 1 fil on back of 1.5 million shares while Boubyan Bank closed 3 fils in green. Kuwait International Bank clipped 2 fils with a volume of 11.9 million and Warba Bank took in 1 fil. Ahli United Bank paced 6 fils with brisk trading The market has been upbeat so far during the week gaining 68 points in last three sessions. It has scaled 98 points from start of the month and is down 1,005 points year-to-date.