Late spurt helps Kuwait index notch robust gains

KUWAIT CITY, July 7: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Wednesday, stemming the two-day decline. The All Shares Index sprinted 39.14 points to 6388.08 pts helped by a spurt in buying in the second half led by some of the mid caps and blue chips.

The Premier Market climbed 26.61 points to 6934.50 pts while Main Market vaulted 69.83 points 119.73 points. BK Main 50 soared 119.73 points to 5586 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped below the 200 million mark to hit a multi-month low. Over 165 million shares changed hands — a 26 pct drop from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Utilities outpaced the rest with 1.35 pct gain whereas Insurance shed 1.21 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services continued to top with over 72 million shares while Banking sector was ahead in value with KD 12.2 million.

Among the prime movers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rallied 6 fils to 857 fils on back of 1.6 million shares while Boubyan Bank scaled 5 fils. Commercial Bank vaulted 50 fils to 550 fils and Gulf Bank climbed 4 fils after pushing over 9 million shares. Boursa Kuwait Securities paced 13 fils to close at KD 1.410.

Zain ticked 1 fil higher to 588 fils with a volume of 1.3 million whereas Ooredoo eased 1 fil to 630 fils. stc scaled 6 fils before settling at 846 fils and logistics major Agility sprinted 9 fils to 930 fils taking the year-to-date gains to 274 fils. Humansoft Holding eased 1 fil to KD 3.799.

KIPCO paused at 159 fils whereas Mabanee Co dialed up 1 fil. Mezzan Holding gave up 4 fils to close at 628 fils and Advanced Technology Co leapt 18 fils to 535 fils. Tamdeen Investment Co erased last session’s gains with a 12 fils slide to 255 fils.

National Industries Group inched 1 fil higher to 219 fils while Gulf Cable stood pat at 755 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co fell 3 fils to 852 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co erased 2 fils. Jazeera Airways glided 10 fils higher to 646 fils whereas ALAFCO tripped 1 fil. Integrated Holding was down 3 fils at 362 fils and Aznour added 3 fils. Tamdeen Investment dipped 12 fils to 255 fils.

The market opened on a firm note and slipped into red in early trade. The main index continued to drift lower and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6338 pts ahead of the mid-session. It moved listlessly before revving sharply in the final minutes to close with robust gains.

Top gainer of the day, Commercial Bank of Kuwait vaulted 10 pct to 550 fils while Massaleh scaled 8.33 percent to stand next. Kuwait Hotels skidded 9.64 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank BSC topped the volume with over 20 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 74 stocks advanced whereas 44 closed lower. Of the 138 counters active on Wednesday, 20 closed flat. 8211 deals worth KD 31.7 million were transacted during the session.

In the banking sector, Burgan Bank dialed up 2 fils before closing at 224 fils and Kuwait International Bank took in 1 fil. Warba Bank stood pat at 248 fils and Ahli United Bank BSC dialed up 1 fil with brisk trading. Al Ahli Bank added 2 fils whereas Ahli United Bank Kuwait held ground at 297 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co slipped 6 fils to 242 fls and Hilal Cement added 2.9 fils with thin trading HEISC paced 5 fils before closing at 495 fils whereas Shuaiba Industrial dialed down 2 fils. ACICO Industries erased 3 fils after pushing 1.3 million shares.

Kuwait Foundry Co gained 4 fils. Kuwait Hotels dropped 7.4 fils to 69.4 fils whereas Educational Holding Co paused at 730 fils. Synergy Holding took in 1 fil. Automated Systems Co inched 1 fil higher to 106 fils while KCPC added 3 fils with thin trading. OSOS Holding Group gave up 2.8 fils and Inovest BSC crept 1 fil higher.

Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co was unchanged at 56.9 fils and Sultan Centre scaled 10 fils to close at 193 fils. Arabi Holding dialed down 1 fil and NAPESCO slipped 5 fils to 870 fils. United Projects Co gained 7 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co was up 5 fils at 295 fils. Burgan Company For Well Drilling fell 2 fils to 172 fils.

Kuwait Investment Co slipped 11 fils to 228 fils whereas International Financial Advisors paused at 130 fils. Arzan Financial Group dialed up 1 fil and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) gained 5 fils on back of 2.9 million shares. Gulf Investment House gave up 4 fils whereas KAMCO added 2 fils. Noor Financial Investment was unchanged at 230 fils.

The market has been mixed so far during the week. It had rallied 176 points during whole of June and is up 817 points year-to-date.