Kuwait stock market heads north as volume rebounds
KUWAIT CITY, June 13: Kuwait stocks headed north on Sunday extending last week’s gains. The All Shares Index climbed 23.66 points in choppy session to close at 6,328.90 pts paced by some of the blue chips and mid-caps. Banks were largely muted.
The Premier Market scaled 19.70 points to close at 6,866.33 pts while Main Market rallied 33.75 pts. The BK Main 50 jumped 33.46 points to 5,549.28 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded past the 400 million market to hit the month’s highest level. Over 474 million shares changed hands – a 29 pct surge from Thursday.
All sectors, barring two, closed in green turf. Insurance outperformed the rest with 1.63 percent gain whereas Energy slipped 0.42 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 212.6 million shares while Banking was ahead in value with KD 31.9 million.
Among the prime movers, Humansoft Holding soared 58 fils to KD 3.580 partly recouping last session’s losses while Mabanee Co added 3 fils before ending at 725 fils. Gulf Investment House jumped 25 fils to 293 fils on back of 7.3 million shares and Gulf Insurance Group sprinted 29 fils. Advanced Technology Co climbed 30 fils to 485 fils.
Zain fell 2 fils to 589 fils after pushing 2.6 million shares and Ooredoo was up 4 fils at 640 fils. stc gave up 9 fils to close at 850 fils and logistics major Agility dialed down 2 fils. Mezzan Holding climbed 9 fils to 648 fils whereas Integrated Holding and Aznour stood pat at 446 fils and 239 fils respectively. Boursa Kuwait Securities was up 3 fils at KD 1.222.
National Industries Group inched 1 fil higher to 219 fils on back of 7.3 million shares while Gulf Cable closed 3 fils in green. Boubyan Petrochemical Co eased 1 fil to 909 fils whereas Al Qurain Petrochemical Co added 2 fils. Jazeera Airways saw a 7 fils ascent to 649 fils and ALAFCO tripped 1 fil after moving 2.8 million shares. NAPESCO dipped 22 fils to 885 fils.
The market opened firm and swung higher in early trade. The main index flipped and fell sharply to bottom at 6318 points and gyrated thereafter between small losses and gains. It scaled the day’s highest level of 6328 pts well past the mid-session and see-sawed again before closing with modest gains.
Top gainer of the day, KGL rallied 12 pct to 61.6 fils while Fujairah Cement sprinted 9.33 percent to stand next. Kuwait Hotels skidded 9.71 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank BSC topped the volume with 55.7 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 77 stocks advanced whereas 43 closed lower. Of the 138 counters active on Sunday, 18 closed flat. 14,278 deals worth KD 71.5 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait ticked 1 fil higher to 840 fils on back of 5.5 million shares whereas Kuwait Finance House stood pat at 750 fils. Gulf Bank took in 1 fils on back of 8.4 million shares and Burgan Bank followed suit to close at 244 fils.
Warba Bank inched 1 fil higher to 253 fils and Ahli
United Bank BSC paced 7 fils with brisk trading. Al Ahli Bank took in 1 fil and Ahli United Bank Kuwait gained 4 fils. Boubyan Bank and Kuwait International Bank dialed down 2 fils each.
KIPCO dialed up 1 fil on back of 1.6 million whereas National Investment Co each 1 fil. Al Imtiaz Investment slipped 3 fils to 123 fils and Kuwait Investment Co was up 4 fils at 187 fils. International Financial Advisors added 2 fils whereas Arzan Financial Group and KMEFIC trimmed 1 fil each.
Noor Financial Investment fell 2 fils to 221 fils whereas Tamdeen Investment and Osoul Investment held ground at 247 fils and 85.5 fils respectively. Ayaan Leasing slipped 4 fils to 176 fils whereas KFIC and KAMCO added 1 fil each. Bayan Investment crept 0.3 fils higher to 55.5 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co rose 3 fils to 260 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement was up 4 fils at 884 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co was unchanged at 330 fils whereas Shuaiba Industrial slipped 7 fils to 162 fils. ACICO Industries added 3 fils while Metal and Recycling Co dialed up 2 fils before ending at 185 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co tripped 1 fil with thin trading.
United Projects Co took in 1 fil and Educational Holding Co added 2 fils. NICBM rose 4 fils to 159 fils whereas YIACO slid 44 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co was up 3 fils at 344 fils while Automated Systems Co and KCPC paused at 109 fils and 560 fils respectively. PAPCO fell 3 fils to 61 fils and Mashaer Holding dialed up 1.3 fils.
The market was buoyant during the previous week. The main index closed higher in all the five session’s rallying 47 points week-on-week. It has gained 109 points from start of the month and is up 780 points year-to-date.