Kuwait bourse pulls back in volatile session
Mabanee Co dips 10 fils, Humansoft Holding gains
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 13: Kuwait stocks slipped into a shallow trough on Tuesday stemming the five-day advance. The All Shares Index dropped 16.78 points in volatile session to 5,762 pts amid a moderate bout of profit booking.
The Premier Market dipped 25.56 points to 6,413.48 pts while Main Market was down 16.78 points at 5,762 pts. BK 50 Main Index too shed 16.78 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile saw moderate pullback following the three day rise. Over 387 million shares changed hands – down 13 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Technology outpaced the rest with 1.12 pct gain whereas Insurance shed 1 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped the volume with 143.5 million shares while Banking sector continued to dominate in value with KD 36.5 million.
Among the notable losers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait
dropped 11 fils to 902 fils after pushing 14.7 million shares while Kuwait Finance House clipped 2 fils with a volume of 10.6 million. Mabanee Co was down 10 fils at 730 fils and Boursa gave up 9 fils before settling at KD 1.112.
Zain slipped 7 fils to 617 fils after moving 6.9 million shares while Ooredoo stood pat at 625 fils. STC was unchanged at 850 fils and Agility was down 9 fils at 697 fils with a volume of 4.9 million.
Humansoft Holding climbed 15 fils to KD 2.780 and KIPCO inched 1 fil up on back of over 4 million shares.
The market opened weak and pulled lower in early trade. The main index clawed back to scale the day’s highest level of 5,778 pts and retreated in a two-wave pattern to plumb the day’s lowest level of 5,731 points half way into the session. It bounced back in the second half before closing with small losses.
Top gainer of the day, KSHC soared 14.7 pct to 33.5 fils and Al Imtiaz climbed 8.9 percent to stand next. Thuraya skidded 9.6 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Aamer topped the volume with 35.3 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s drop, the losers outnumbered the winners. 51 stocks advanved whereas 59 closed lower.
Of the 130 counters active on Tuesday, 20 closed flat. 15.586 deals worth KD 69.6 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group moved 9 fils higher on back of over 21 million shares Mezzan Holding adding 3 fils before settling at 621 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 6 fils to 584 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co closed 3 fils in green. Integrated Holding Co and Aznoula clipped 2 fils each to end at 370 fils and 327 fils respectively.
Jazeera Airways fell 4 fils to 580 fils and ALAFCO inched 1 fil up to 167 fils. Burgan Well Drilling Co added 3 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts inched 0.2 fil higher to 24.2 fils. Oula Fuel and Soor Fuel dialed up 2 fils each while Inovest ticked. NICBM fell 4 fils to 155 fils while Combined Group Contracting Co clipped 2 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co eased 2 fils to 230 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement inched 1 fil lower to 768 fils. Independent Petroleum Group shed 10 fils and Automated Systems Co crept 0.8 fils higher. KCPC clipped 2 fils and KPPC edged 0.7 fil higher to 45.5 fils on back of over 2 million shares.
Kuwait Foundry Co fell 3 fils to 261 fils and Gulf Cable gave up 3 fils to end at 701 fils. Kuwait Hotels was down 5 fils at 95 fils while Metal and Recylcing Co took in 1.7 fils with thin trading. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co inched 0.8 fil higher to 53 fils and Warbacap eased 0.2 fil.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank tripped 1 fil after pushing 11.3 million shares and Kuwait International Bank stood pat at 222 fils. Burgan Bank dialed up 1 fil and Boubyan Bank scaled 6 fils on back of over 4 million shares.
The market has been mixed so far during the week and is up 38 points in last three sessions. It had scaled 317 points from start of the month and is down 523 points year-to-date.