Kuwait stock market ekes feeble gains in volatile session
KUWAIT CITY, April 14: Kuwait stocks logged feeble gains on Wednesday stemming the two-day decline. The All Shares Index rose 8.93 points in a volatile session to 5,941.56 pts helped by fresh buying in some of the heavyweights even as the overall mood remained fickle.
The Premier Market climbed 19 points 6,516.62 pts taking the month’s gains to 192 points while Main Market shed 14.33 pts. The BK Main 50 was down 18.68 pts at 4,973.24 points. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped below the 200 million mark for the first time during the month. Over 182 million shares changed hands – down 19 percent from the day before.
Discretionary
The sectors closed mixed. Technology outpaced the rest with 1.51 percent gain whereas Consumer Discretionary shed 1.50 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 75.7 million shares while Banking was ahead in value with KD 14.6 million.
Among the day’s movers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rose 3 fils to 826 fils on back of 2.9 million shares while Kuwait Finance House rallied 5 fils after pushing 9.2 million shares and has retreated 49 fils month-to-date. Mabanee Co gave up 3 fils to close at 718 fils whereas YIACO Medical soared 40 fils.
Zain eased 1 fil to 603 fils with a volume of 2.9 million and Ooredoo scaled 6 fils to settle at 648 fils. stc inched 1 fil higher to 899 fils whereas logistics major Agility sprinted 6 fils on back of 2.6 million shares taking the month’s gains to 32 fils. Humansoft Holding slid 29 fils to KD 3.859 and Mezzan Holding tripped 1 fil. Noor Financial Investment gained 10 fils.
Shares
National Industries Group rose 3 fils on back of 6.3 million shares whereas Gulf Cable was down 7 fils at 832 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co slipped 5 fils to 895 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co dialed up 2 fils. Jazeera Airways continued to skid for the second straight session losing 34 fils while ALAFCO ticked 1 fil into red. Integrated Holding took in 2 fils whereas Aznour
stood pat at 265 fils.
The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index flipped and fell sharply to plumb the day’s lowest level of 5924 points before bouncing back into green turf. It continued to vacillate in a broad range and revved up in the final minutes to close small gains.
Sprinted
Top gainer of the day, National Shooting Range sprinted 10 percent to 37.4 fils and YIACO Medical climbed 8.7 pct to stand next. International Investors skidded 10.39 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and ALOLA topped the volume with over 15 million shares.
Despite the day’s uptick, the losers outnumbered the winners. 51 stocks advanced whereas 60 closed lower. Of the 132 counters active on Wednesday, 21 closed flat. 9003 deals worth KD 33.7 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Burgan Bank took in 1 fil each to close at 216 fils and 221 fils respectively whereas Kuwait International Bank trimmed 1 fil after trading over 1 million shares. Boubyan
Bank paused at 625 fils.
Warba Bank fell 2 fils to 247 fils whereas Ahli United Bank BSC inched 1 fil higher on back of 14.7 million shares. Al Ahli Bank ticked 1 fil down to 201 fils whereas Ahli United Bank Kuwait dialed up 1 fil.
KIPCO edged 1 fil higher to 162 fils and National Investment Co held ground at 178 fils. Al Imtiaz Investment clipped 2 fils whereas International Financial Advisors gave up 4 fils. Kuwait International Co added 1 fils on back of 2.6 million shares and Arzan Financial Group closed 2 fils in red with brisk trading.
Erased
Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) crept 0.2 fils up to 87.9 fils whereas First Investment dialed down 2 fils. KMEFIC and KAMCO eased 1 fil each while Gulf Investment House shed 8 fils. KFIC took in 2 fils and Tamdeen Investment erased 2 fils.
The market has been mixed so far during the week, adding 19 points in last three sessions. It has rallied 169 points from start of the month and is up 272 points year-to-date.