Kuwait bourse edges up amid mixed trading, volume tapers
KUWAIT CITY, March 3: Kuwait stocks crept higher on Wednesday recouping last session’s slight pullback. The All Shares Index, after a wobbly start, rose 6.96 points to 5,684.51 pts led by heavyweights even as the overall mood remained mixed.
The Premier Market paced 10.68 points to close at 6,203.66 points while Main Market eased 1.54 points. The BK Main 50 was little changed at 4,846 points. The volume turnover meanwhile slipped below the 200 million mark to hot a 10-day low. Over 196 million shares changed hands – down 6.6 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Consumer Goods outshone the rest with 0.75 percent gain whereas Utilities shed 1.99 percent, the worst performer of the day. Banking sector topped in both volume and value with over 57 million shares traded for KD 26.4 million.
Among the notable movers, Kuwait Finance House climbed 5 fils to 731 fils with brisk trading while Boubyan Bank scaled 4 fils after pushing 2.3 million shares. Humansoft Holding slid 35 fils to KD 3.765 extending last session’s losses and NAPESCO shed 34 fils. Mabanee Co tripped 1 fils to end at 703 fils.
Zain eased 1 fil to 624 fils after moving 4.6 million shares while added 3 fils. stc gave up 7 fils while logistics major Agility was down 5 fils at 672 fils with a volume of over 3 million paring the month’s gains to 12 fils. Boursa Kuwait rose 5 fils to KD 1.150 whereas Aznour slipped 5 fils after pushing 6.2 million shares.
The market opened firm and tick up before slipping into red in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,679 pts and vacillated briefly before pulling higher. It peaked at 5,694 points past the mid-session and gave up most of the gains in the final minutes.
Top gainer of the day, Energy Holding sprinted 10 pct to 28.6 fils while KFIC scaled 6.44 percent to stand next. Warba Capital skidded 9.5 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Finance House topped the volume with 13.2 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s uptick, the winners slightly outnumbered the losers. 59 stocks advanced whereas 55 closed lower. Of the 135 counters active on Wednesday, 21 closed flat. 9,644 deals worth KD 47.57 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait stood pat at 836 fils after trading 9.9 million shares and Gulf Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of 216 fils. Kuwait International Bank and Burgan Bank were unchanged at 202 fils and 223 fils respectively. Warba Bank climbed 8 fils to 240 fils while Ahli United Bank BSC took in 1 fil on back of 10.6 million shares. Al Ahli Bank dialed up 1 fil whereas Commercial Bank of Kuwait and Ahli United Bank Kuwait paused at 500 fils and 300 fils respectively.
Investment major KIPCO eased 1 fil to 171 fils and Al Imtiaz Investment ticked 1 fil higher. National Investment Co gave up 2 fils whereas Kuwait Investment Co and KMEFIC held ground at 124 fils and 145 fils respectively. International Financial Advisors clipped 1fil. Coast Investment trimmed 0.6 fil and Arzan Financial Group added 0.5 fil.
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) and Unicap stalled at 82 fils and 39.5 fils respectively whereas KFIC scaled 3.1 fils before settling at 51.2 fils. Gulf Investment House and Aayan Leasing clipped 1 fils each while KAMCO fell 1.6 fils to 79 fils.
Bayan Investment Co eased 0.1 fil to 40.9 fils and Noor Financial Investment Co slipped 6 fils. Tamdeen Investment Co dropped 8 fils to 221 fils while Gulf Insurance Group was down 10 fils at 620 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co and Warba Insurance took in 1 fils to close at 405 fils and 119 fils respectively.
Kuwait Reinsurance Co was flat at 429 fils and First Takaful Insurance Co closed 1.9 fils in green. Tamdeen Real Estate Co dipped 8 fils to 240 fils with thin trading while Salhia Real Estate dialed down 2 fils. National Real Estate Co eased 0.1 fils.