Kuwait’s bourse heads north after wobbly start, volume surges
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 25: Kuwait stocks headed north on Monday as it continued its winning spree to sixth straight session. The All Shares Index, after a wobbly start, climbed 15.55 points to 5,730.06 pts helped by buying spurt in some of the blue chips and mid-caps even as the overall mood remained cautiously positive.
The Prime Market scaled 17 points taking the month’s gains to 204 pts while Main Market rose 12.57 points to 4695.43 pts. The BK Main 50 was up 11.27 points at 4877 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile surged past the 300 million mark to hit month’s highest level so far. Over 383 million shares changed hands – a 49 pct jump from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Oil and Gas outperformed the rest with 1 pct gain whereas Basic Materials slid 1.53 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with over 200 million shares while Banking sector continued to dominate in value with KD 23.3 million.
Among the notable performers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rose 5 fils to 865 fils extending last session’s gains and the counter saw 6.3 million shares change hands while Mabanee Co paced 9 fils. Tamdeen Investment swung 11 fils higher to 303 fils and NAPESCO recouped most of Sunday’s losses with 30 fils jump to KD 1.022.
Zain fell 2 fils to 631 fils after pushing 2.4 million shares while Ooredoo tripped 1 fil. stc slipped 5 fils to 905 fils paring the month’s gains to 53 fils while Agility sprinted 8 fils to 768 fils. Humansoft Holding scaled 5 fils whereas Boursa Kuwait Securities gave up 3 fils to end at KD 1.172. Investment major KIPCO took in 1 fil while National Investment Co rose 4 fils to 146 fils on back of 4.4 million shares Arzan Financial pushed 3.4 fils higher to 68.7 fils whereas Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) and KMEFIC paused at 83 fils and 148 fils respectively.
International Financial Advisors added 2.9 fils with brisk trading and KAMCO ticked 0.6 fil into green. Bayan Investment trimmed 1.2 fils whereas Noor Financial Investment dialed up 2 fils. Al Ahleia Insurance Co shed 21 fils and Kuwait Investment Co took in 1 fil.
The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index retreated thereafter to plumb the day’s lowest level of 5,708 pts and headed north. It continued to gain amid buying spurt in select counters to peak at 5,736 points well past the mid-session before paring back some of the gains at close.
Top gainer of the day, Al Deera Holding soared 27.2 pct to 38.8 fils and Osoul Investment jumped 21 percent to stand next. Amwal skidded 6.9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Arzan topped the volume with 63.2 million shares. Reflecting the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 65 stocks advanced whereas 53 closed lower. Of the 138 counters active on Monday, 20 closed flat. 11,966 deals worth KD 51.4 million were transacted during the session. In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House took in 1 fil on back of 7.9 million shares whereas Gulf Bank and Boubyan Bank clipped 1 fil each to end at 219 fils and 575 fils respectively. Kuwait International Bank eased 1 fil to 210 fils after pushing 10.6 million shares whereas Warba Bank added 3 fils. Ahli United Bank dialed up 2 fils while Al Ahli Bank tripped 1 fil.
National Industries Group took in 1 fil on back of 4.2 million shares while Mezzan Holding gave up 4 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dropped 6 fils to 657 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical
Co erased 9 fils. Integrated Holding Co held ground at 370 fils and Aznour inched 1 fil lower to 272 fils.
Jazeera Airways skidded 6 fils to 720 fils extending last session’s losses while ALAFCO gave up 2 fils. United Projects Co slipped 4 fils to 254 fils while Mashaer Holding added 1.5 fils. Oula Fuel and Soor Fuel dialed up 1 fil each while Inovest scaled 4.3 fils to close at 71 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co inched 1 fil higher to 243 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement whittled down 2 fils. NICBM eased 1 fil to 155 fils whereas Gulf Cable and Independent Petroleum Group stood pat at 775 fils and 480 fils respectively. Metal Recycling Co and Equipment Holding eased 0.1 fil each and Shuaiba Industrial gained 5 fils.
Educational Holding Co paced 8 fils while Burgan Company For Well Drilling trimmed 1 fil and IFA Hotels and Resorts took in 1.2 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co clipped 2 fils and Automated Systems Co ticked 0.2 fil into green. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co closed 1 fils down at 53.2 fils.
The market has been upbeat so far during the week gaining 42 points in last two sessions. It has rallied 183 points from start of the month after shedding 736 points during whole of 2020.