Kuwait’s bourse heads north, volume recedes
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 22: Kuwait stocks headed north as it extended its winning streak to fifth straight session. The All Shares Index climbed 44 points to 5,577.77 points driven by heavyweights even as the broader sentiment remained mixed.
The Premier Market rallied 62.52 points to 6,178.64 pts while Main Market was up 5.93 points at 4,384.87 pts. The BK 50 Main index as little changed at 4,425.18 pts. The volume turnover, meanwhile, receded after hitting a multi-month high in the previous session. Over 411 million shares changed hands – down 22 pct from Monday.
The sectors closed mostly in green. Consumer Good outpaced the rest with 1.33 pct gain whereas Utilities shed 0.30 percent, the biggest loser of day. Volume wise, Real Estate continued to top with 124.7 million and Banking sector was ahead in value with KD 38.7 million.
Among the day’s notable gainers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rallied 10 fils to 890 fils on back of 7.8 million shares while Kuwait Finance House sprinted 16 fils after pushing over 23 million shares. Kuwait Investment Co climbed 7 fils to 127 fils and Kuwait Insurance Co scaled 15 fils with thin trading.
Zain dialed up 2 fils on back of 5.5 million shares while Ooredoo stood pat at 615 fils. STC rose 5 fils to 845 fils while logistics major Agility was up 4 fils after pushing 6.2 million shares and has gained 71 fils from start of the month. Humansoft Holding shed 44 fils and KIPCO added 3 fils on back of 3.8 million shares. KAMCO stood pat at 72.2 fils.
The market opened weak and slipped into red in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,470 points and bounced back as spurt in buying in some of the blue chips. It scaled the day’s highest level of 5,586 pts almost an hour into the session and retreated slightly before trading sideways to close with moderate gains.
Top gainer of the day, Inovest rallied 9 pct to 76.3 fils and Sanam Real Estate stood next with 8.7 pct jump. Hilal Cement skidded 4.5 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding topped the volume with 54.6 million shares.
Despite the day’s gains, the losers slightly outnumbered the winners. 54 stocks advanced whereas 59 closed lower. Of the 130 counters active on Tuesday, 17 closed flat. 14,777 deals worth KD 68.9 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group fell 2 fils to 175 fils after moving 7.5 million shares and Mezzan Holding was up 4 fils at 622 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co was flat at 569 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co trimmed 1 fil. Integrated Holding slipped 3 fils to 380 fils and Aznoula eased 1 fil after moving over 5 million shares.
Jazeera Airways rose 3 fils to 574 fils and ALAFCO inched 1 fil into red with a volume of over 4 million. Soor dialed up 2 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co gained 4 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co clipped 1 fil and IFA Hotels and Resorts followed suit after moving 33.6 million shares. Gulf Petroleum Investment eased 0.3 fil.
Kuwait Cement Co took in 1 fil and Kuwait Portland Cement gave up 7 fils before ending at 768 fils. Gulf Cement trimmed 0.5 fil and Fujairah Cement ticked 0.6 fil lower. FutureKid added 3.5 fils and Automated Systems Co paused at 72 fils. KCPC dialed down 2 fils and KPPC inched 0.3 fil lower to 42.2 fils.
Kuwait Foundry Co as unchanged at 260 fils and Kuwait National Cinema Co soared 40 fils to 725 fils. Gulf Cable climbed 12 fils to 702 fils and ACICO Industries clipped 1 fil. Educational Holding eased 1 fil to 306 fils and Kuwait Gulf Links crept 0.4 fil into green.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank was flat at 225 fils with a volume of 17.4 million and Burgan Bank too did not budge from its previous close of 207 fils. Boubyan Bank and Kuwait International Bank inched 1 fil higher and Ahli United Bank gained 4 fils.
The market has been upbeat so far during the week gaining 130 pts in last three sessions. It has scaled 284 points from start of the month and is down 704 points year-to-date.