Kuwait bourse extends winning spree, volume tapers
KUWAIT CITY, June 14: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Monday as it extended its winning spree to 10th straight session. The All Shares Index climbed 32.05 points to 6,360.95 points paced by some of the heavyweights and mid-caps even as the broader sentiment remained positive.
The Premier Market rallied 38.90 points to 6,905.23 pts taking the month’s gains to 165 points while Main Market scaled 17.08 pts. BK Main 50 was up 19.20 points at 5,568.48 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank slightly after hitting month’s high in the previous session. Over 455 million shares changed hands - down 4 percent from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in green territory. Healthcare outshone the rest with 2.80 percent gain whereas Utilities shed 0.84 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services continued to top with 186 million shares while Banking sector was ahead in value with KD 29.7 million.
Among the standouts, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rose 3 fils to 843 fils on back of 5.8 million shares while Kuwait Finance House rallied 7 fils on back of 9.2 million shares and is up 96 fils year-todate. Mabanee Co sprinted 25 fils to 750 fils while Humansoft Holding extended last session’s gains with 20 fils jump to KD 3.600. NAPESCO soared 30 fils tom 915 fils.
Zain was unchanged at 589 fils after pushing 2.3 million shares and Ooredoo scaled 7 fils before ending at 647 fils. stc slipped 10 fils to 840 fils while logistics major Agility eased 1 fil to 918 fils and is up 242 fils year-to-date. Mezzan Holding climbed 4 fils to 652 fils and Integrated Holding was up 3 fils at 449 fils. Boursa Kuwait Securities gained 5 fils.
Ntational Industries Group rallied 7 fils to 918 fils on back of 20 million shares while Gulf Cable darted 12 fils to 768 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co paced 5 fils whereas Al Qurain Petrochemical Co dialed down 1 fil to close at 393 fils. Jazeera Airways skidded 6 fils to 643 fils erasing last session’s gains while ALAFCO tripped 1 fils.
The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index continued to rise in small increments and gained momentum past the mid-session amid buying spurt in some of the counters. It scaled the day’s highest level of 6,369 pts and retreated slightly in the final minutes to close with moderate gains.
Top gainer of the day, Advanced Technology Co soared 14.6 percent to 556 fils and Safat Energy scaled 9.54 pct to stand next. Thuraya skidded 9.37 percent, the steepest decliner of the session while Ahli United Bank BSC topped the volume with 29.8 million shares.
Mirroring the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 72 stocks advanced whereas 51 closed lower. Of the 138 counters active on Monday, 15 closed flat. 15,678 deals worth KD 73.2 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank rose 3 fils to 248 fils on back of 8.3 million shares while Kuwait International Bank scaled 7 fils with brisk trading. Burgan Bank stood pat at 244 fils whereas Boubyan Bank paced 4 fils to close at 702 fils.
Warba Bank was up 3 fils at 256 fils after moving 6.5 million whereas Ahli United Bank BSC paused at 234 fils with heavy trading. Al Ahli Bank was unchanged at 215 fils whereas Ahli United Bank Kuwait dialed up 1 fil.
KIPCO inched 1 fil up to 157 fils on back of 3.5 million shares and National Investment Co dialed up 2 fils. Al Imtiaz Investment tripped 1 fil whereas Kuwait Investment Co paced 3 fils. International Financial Investment was unchanged at 122 fils after pushing over 6 million shares and Arzan Financial Group too did not budge from its earlier close of 134 fils.Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) took in 1 fil whereas KMEFIC paused at 137 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co was unchanged at 260 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement gave up 3 fils before ending at 881 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co slid 10 fils to 320 fils while Metal and Recycling Co tripped 1 fil. HEISC rose 5 fils to 497 fils and ACICO Industries dialed up 2 fils. NICBM took in 1 fil whereas Kuwait National Cinema Co paused at 879 fils.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co fell 2.5 fils to 59.1 fils whereas Automated Systems Co added 2 fils. KCPC was down 3 fils at 557 fils whereas Burgan Company For Well Drilling Co and OSOS Holding stood pat at 192 fils and 93 fils respectively. Combined
Group Contracting Co closed 3 fils in red and United Projects Co dialed up 1 fil.
The market has been upbeat so far during the week, gaining 55 points in last two sessions. It has rallied 142 points from start of the month and is up 812 points year-to-date.