Kuwait stock market wraps up week on lackluster note
KUWAIT CITY, June 10: Kuwait stocks trod water on Thursday as it wrapped up the week on a tepid note. The All Shares Index added 2.30 points in lackluster trade to close at 6305.24 points even as the heavyweights closed mostly in red.
The Premier Market eased 1.52 pts to 6,846.63 points while Main Market scaled 11.33 pts. The BK Main 50 index climbed 18.39 points to 5,515.82 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank following Wednesday’s rebound. Over 368 million shares changed hands - down 20 percent from the day before.
The sectors closed mixed. Energy outshone the rest with 1.31 percent gain whereas Healthcare shed 1.98 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Service continued to top with 144.7 million shares while Banking was ahead in value with KD 28.2 million.
In the individual shares, Kuwait Finance House rose 2 fils to 750 fils on back of 6.6 million shares whereas Gulf Bank dialed down 2 fils after pushing 10.9 million shares. Boubyan Bank was up 3 fils at 700 fils whereas sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait stood pat at 839 fils with a volume of 2.9 million shares. Mabanee Co slipped 6 fils to 722 fils.
Zain fell 2 fils to 591 fils erasing last session’s uptick and the counter saw 1.4 million shares change hands while Ooredoo eased 1 fil to 636 fils. stc too tripped 1 fil while Agility was down 4 fils at 921 fils after pushing 2.8 million shares. Humansoft Holding skidded 73 fils to KD 3.522 paring the month’s gains to 232 fils and Mezzan Holding dropped 11 fils to 639 fils. Tamdeen Investment gained 9 fils.
National Industries Group slipped 4 fils to 218 fils after moving over 5 million shares while Gulf Cable gave up 8 fils . Boubyan Petrochemical Co dialed up 2 fils whereas Al Qurain Petrochemical Co trimmed 1 fils. Burgan Company For Well Drilling scaled 14 fils to close at 189 fils. YIACO Medical sprinted 26 fils to 517 fils.
Jazeera Airways hit mild turbulence with a 4 fils drop to 642 fils and ALAFCO dialed down 1 fil. Integrated Holding and Boursa Kuwait Securities slipped 6 fils each to close at KD 1.219 and 446 fils respectively. Advanced Technology Co climbed 13 fils to 455 fils with razor thin trading.
Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Foundry Co soared 12.63 percent to 330 fils while First Takaful sprinted 9.8 percent to stand next. Thuraya skidded 9.63 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank BSC topped the volume with 62.4 million shares.
Despite the mixed finish, the winners outnumbered the losers. 68 stocks advanced whereas 51 closed lower. Of the 141 counters active on Thursday, 22 closed flat. 12,959 deals worth KD 60.63 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Burgan Bank was unchanged at 243 fils and Kuwait International Bank added 3 fils on back of 12.4 million shares. Warba Bank tripped 1 fil whereas Ahli United Bank BSC took in 2 fils. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank stood pat at 500 fils and 216 fils respectively and Ahli United Bank Kuwait too did not budge from its earlier close of 291 fils.
KIPCO and Al Imtiaz Investment paused at 155 fils and 126 fils respectively whereas National Investment Co clipped 1 fil. Kuwait Investment Co crept 1 fil up to 183 fils and International Financial Advisors added 2 fils. Coast Investment dialed uo 2.4 fils whereas Arzan Financial Group gave up 2 fils.
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) rose 4 fils to 130 fils whereas KMEFIC trimmed 1 fil. First Investment was up 1.9 fils on back of 13.8 million shares and Gulf Investment House paced 3 fils.
Noor Financial Investment Co took in 2 fils and National International Holding scaled 7 fils to close at 110 fils. KAMCO inched 0.6 fils into green wheras KFIC erased 2 fils. Bayan Investment added 2.4 fils on back of 5.9 million shares and Osoul Investment edged 0.5 fils higher to 85.5 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co fell 4 fils to 257 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement dialed down 2 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co jumped 37 fils to 330 fils and ACICO Industries added 2 fils before ending at 119 fils. Shuaiba Industrial was unchanged at 169 fils whereas HEISC inched 1 fil higher to 491 fils. Metal and Recycling Co eased 1 fil to 183 fils.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co was unchanged at 55 fils with a volume of 1.5 million while Automated Systems Co took in 1 fil. NAPESCO added 2 fils whereas KCPC gave up 5 fils to close at 907 fils. Equipment Holding crept 1.6 fils higher to 36.9 fils and NICBM shed 4 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co dropped.
The market was buoyant during the week. The main index closed higher in all the five session’s rallying 47 points week-on-week. It has gained 85 points from start of the month and is up 756 points year-to-date.