Kuwait stock market heads north in lackluster trade
Boursa Kuwait Securities soars 60 fils, Gulf Bank slips
KUWAIT CITY, July 4: Kuwait stocks crept higher on Sunday after treading water in previous session. The All Shares Index rose 14.52 points in lacklustre trade to 6,402.55 pts even as the overall mood remained mixed.
The Premier Market climbed 16.48 points to 6,963.13 pts after scaling 196 points during whole of June while Main Market gained 10.44 pts. The BK Main 50 index fell 2.83 points to 5,517.52 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped to a one-month low. Over 221 million shares changed hands – a 27 pct drop from last session.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Technology outshone the rest with 2.68 percent gain whereas Utilities shed 2.19 pct, the worst perfumer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 123 million shares and the sector was also ahead in value with KD 14.5 million.
Among the standouts, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rose 4 fils to 861 fils on back of 1.4 million shares while Kuwait Finance House added 3 fils with a volume of over 2 million shares and is up 103 fils up year-to-date. Boubyan Bank sprinted 9 fils to 742 fils and Boursa Kuwait Securities extended its winning spree with 60 fils jump to KD 1.431. Humansoft Holding paced 15 fils.
Zain fell 2 fils to 586 fils after pushing over 1 million shares while Ooredoo stood pat at 631 fils after adding 10 fils during while of June. stc slipped 5 fils to 851 fils and logistics major Agility darted 8 fils to 927 fils taking its year’s gains to 251 fils. Mabanee Co was up 5 fils at 718 fils and National Investment Co added 3 fils.. KIPCO held ground at 162 fils.
National Industries Group inched 1 fil higher to 222 fils on back of 2.4 million shares after rallying 50 fils during whole of June while Gulf Cable dialed up 2 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gave up 3 fils before ending at 860 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co paused at 390 fils. Jazeera Airways rose 3 fils to 650 fils whereas ALAFCO clipped 2 fils before settling at 221 fils. Mezzan Holding eased 1 fil to 635 fils.
The market opened firm and pulled higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6,419 points and flipped as sentiment turned sour. It bottomed at 6,392 pts almost an hour into the session and see sawed thereafter between small gains and losses before closing with small gains.
Top gainer of the day, EK Holding rallied 8 percent to 336 fils while Securities Holding scaled 5.9 pct to stand next. NCCI skidded 6.4 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Securities House also topped the volume with 28.4 million shares.
Despite the day’s uptick, the losers outnumbered the winners. 54 stocks advanced whereas 62 closed lower. Of the 137 counters active on Sunday, 21 closed flat. 137 deals worth KD 36.1 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank fell 3 fils to 248 fils after pushing over 2 million shares whereas Burgan Bank took in 1 fil. Kuwait International Bank dialed up 2 fils on back of over 3 million shares. Warba Bank was unchanged at 249 fils whereas Ahli United Bank BSC gave up 3 fils with brisk trading. Al Ahli Bank stalled at 212 fils and Ahli United Bank Kuwait clipped 1 fil.
Kuwait Investment Co rallied 10 fils to 231 fils on back of over 5 million shares and International Financial Advisors ticked 1 fil up. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) dialed up 1 fil whereas Arzan Financial Group paced 4 fils. KMEFIC eased 1 fil to 157 fils.
Osoul Investment Co and Gulf Investment gave up 2 fils each whereas Bayan Investment crept 1 fil into green. KFIC fell 1.3 fils to 92.6 fils whereas KAMCO paced 4 fils. Al Deera Holding gained 5 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co inched 1 fil up to 246 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement scaled 9 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co rose 3 fils to 379 fils whereas ACICO Industries paused at 129 fils. Shuaiba Industrial dialed up 2 fils and HEISC shed 7 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co slid 27 fils to 831 fils. Advanced Technology skidded 27 fils to 447 fils with razor thin trading. Egypt Kuwait Holding jumped 25 fils to 336 fils.
Kuwait Gulf Links Transport Co was unchanged at 57 fils whereas NAPESCO and KCPC trimmed 1 fil each. Automated Systems Co crept 3 fils up to 115 fils while United Projects Co gave up 5 fils. Mashaer Holding fell 3 fils to 67 fils whereas Combined Group Contracting Co added 4 fils. Sultan Centre paced 4 fils and Arabi Group Holding climbed 10 fils to 181 fils.
The market was mixed during the previous week. The main index closed higher in four of the five sessions but was down 71 points week-on-week. It had scaled 176 points during whole of June and is up 852 points year-to-date