Kuwait ekes out feeble gains amid mixed sentiment
KUWAIT CITY, June 16: Kuwait stocks ticked up on Wednesday as it continued to plod higher for the 12th consecutive day. The All Shares Index gave up steeper early gains to close 4.41 points up at 6,381 pts even as the overall mood remained mixed.
The Premier Market climbed 7 points to 6,928.58 pts taking the year-to-date gains to 877 points while Main Market inched 1.64 points lower. The BK Main 50 index was down 5.20 points at 5,575.24 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile retreated to end slightly below the 400 million mark. Over 382 million shares changed hands – down 18 pct from the day before.
Gain
The sectors closed narrowly mixed. Banking sector outpaced the rest with 0.26 percent gain whereas Healthcare shed 1.02 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 154.9 million shares while Banking was ahead in value with KD 22.84 million.
In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait fell 2 fils to 842 fils after pushing 4.9 million shares whereas Kuwait Finance House scaled 7 fils on back of 8.4 million shares. Boubyan Bank climbed 6 fils to 710 fils and Humansoft Holding sprinted 20 fils to KD 3.620 taking the month’s gains to 330 fils. Gulf Investment House skidded 30 fils to 301 fils whereas Tamdeen Investment jumped 20 fils.
Zain eased 1 fil to 588 fils after pushing 3.9 million shares whereas Ooredoo stood pat at 640 fils.stc paced 6 fils whereas logistics major Agility gave up 6 fils with a volume of 1.5 million. Mabanee Co tripped 1 fil and KIPCO followed suit to close at 156 fils. Boursa Kuwait Securities slid 18 filsto KD 1.221. Advanced Technology Company skidded 27 fils to 550 fils erasing last session’s gains.
National Industries Group dialed up 2 fils on back of 17 million shares and is up 49 fils year-to-date while Gulf Cable tripped 1 fil before closing at 769 fils Boubyan Petrochemical Co eased 1 fil to 917 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical added 3 fils before settling at 395 fils.
Jazeera Airways glided 6 fils higher to 648 fils whereas ALAFCO whittled down 3 fils. Mezzan Holding and Aznour dialed down 2 fils each. The market opened firm and slipped into red in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,378 pts and headed north amid fresh buying in some of the counters. It peaked at 6,390 points half way into the session and retreated thereafter as market mood dampened. It rifted sideways in the final minutes before closing in the green territory.
Skidded
Top gainer of the day, Hayat Communications sprinted 9.78 percent to 75.2 fils and NCCI scaled 9.77 pct to stand next. KSHC skidded 9.45 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and NREC topped the volume with 25.5 million shares. Despite the day’s uptick, the losers outnumbered the winners. 53 stocks advanced whereas 63 closed lower. Of the 133 counters active on Wednesday, 17 closed flat. 14,489 deals worth KD 69 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank was unchanged at 245 fils after pushing 7.9 million shares and Kuwait International Bank added 3 fils on back of 12.8 million shares. Burgan Bank inched 1 fil higher to 244 fils.
Warba Bank crept 1 fil higher to 259 fils on back of 11.3 million shares whereas Ahli United Bank clipped 2 fils. Al Ahli Bank and Ahli United Bank Kuwait added 1 fil each to close at 215 fils and 301 fils respectively. National Investment Co was unchanged at 173 fils and Al Imtiaz Investment
tripped 1fils after moving over 3 million shares. Kuwait Investment Co and International Financial Advisors paused at 197 fils and 122 fils respectively whereas Arzan Financial Group and Kuwait Financial Centre took in 1 fil each to close at 134 fils and 138 fils respectively.
Noor Financial Investment dialed up 1 fil while Osoul Investment climbed 6.9 fils to 91.9 fils. KFIC inched 1.1 fils higher to 98.9 fils whereas KAMCO held ground at 105 fils. Bayan Investment closed 0.4 fil in green. Kuwait Cement Co fell 3 fils to 256 fils while Kuwait Portland Cement clipped 2 fils.
Kuwait Foundry Co slipped 4 fils to 380 fils whereas HEISC added 2 fils. ACICO Industries tripped 3 fils and Hilal Cement Co ticked 1 fil into red. Shuaiba Industrial paused at 170 fils whereas Metal and Recycling Co scaled 6 fils.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.4 fil after pushing over 1 million shares while Sultan Centre and Educational Holding Co gained 4 fils each. Combined Group Contracting Co paced 4 fils. KCPC dialed down 2 fils and Automated System Co eased 1 fil to 117 fils.
The market has been upbeat so far during the week, gaining 76 points in last four sessions. It has rallied 161 points from start of the month and is up 831 points year-to-date.