Kuwait equities tread water, volume dips
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 17: Kuwait stocks trod water on Sunday, as it kicked off the week on a lackluster note. The All Shares Index eased 1.94 pts in choppy session to 5,654.34 points even as the broader sentiment remained mixed.
The Premier Market slipped 11.76 points to 6,171 pts paring the month’s gains to 120 pts while Main Market scaled 18.56 points. The BK Main 50 jumped 31.35 points to 4,92.94 points. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank following Thursday’s dip. Over 229 million shares changed hands – down 25.6 pct from the last session.
The sectors closed mixed. Oil and Gas outshone the rest with 1.54 percent gain whereas Technology shed 1.82 percent, the worst performer of the day. Financial Services topped in both volume and value with 115 million shares traded for over KD 7 million.
In the individual shares, Kuwait Finance House clipped 2 fils after trading 3.5 million shares while sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait stood pat at 850 fils and is down 10 fils so far during the month.
Mabanee Co scaled 7 fils to close at 721 fils as it extended its winning spree from previous week while NAPESCO soared 40 fils.
Zain was unchanged at 630 fils with a volume of over 3 million shares whereas Ooredoo added 3 fils. stc sprinted 26 fils to 892 fils and logistic major Agility was down 5 fils at 735 fils. Humansoft Holding shed 20 fils extending Thursday’s drop and Boursa Securities Kuwait gave up 3 fils to close at KD 1.143.
KIPCO dialed down 2 fils before settling at 160 fils and KAMCO trimmed 0.6 fil. Kuwait Investment Co and National Investment Co eased 1 fil each to end at 125 fils and 142 fils respectively whereas KMEFIC gained 4 fils. Kuwait Financial Center (Markaz) added 1.3 fils and Osoul Investment paused at 80 fils.
The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index slipped briefly and rebounded to scale the day’s highest level of 5666 points ahead of midsession. It retreated again amid a selling bout to bottom at 5,651 pts before clawing back most of the losses at close.
Top gainer of the day, YIACO rallied 10 pct to 781 fils while First Takaful climbed 5 percent to stand next. Arkan skidded 8 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Arzan topped the volume with 31.6 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s tame closing, the market spread was almost even. 56 stocks advanced whereas 53 closed lower. Of the 130 counters active on Sunday, 21 closed flat. 8904 deals worth KD 25.1 million were transacted during the session.
National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 182 fils and Mezzan Holding followed suit to end at 584 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co scaled 4 fils whereas Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gave up 3 fils. Integrated Holding Co rose 3 fils to 361 fils and Aznour stood pat at 269 fils.
Jazeera Airways inched 1 fil higher to 160 fils and ALAFCO was up 5 fils at 226 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co clipped 2 fils whereas Gulf Cable dialed up 1 fil. Independent Petroleum Group gained 5 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co slipped 4 fils to 152 fils.
The market was largely upbeat during the previous week. The main index closed higher in four of the five sessions scaling 128 points week-on-week. It has gained 107 points from start of the month after tumbling 736 points during the whole of 2020.