Kuwait index ends week with pullback, volume rises
KUWAIT CITY, July 8: Kuwait stocks slipped into a shallow trough on Thursday partly reversing last session’s gains. The All Shares Index wrapped up the week with a 20.76 points drop to 6,367.32 pts weighed by some of blue chips and mid-caps.
The Premier Market slipped 14.28 pts to 6,920.22 points taking month’s losses to 16 pts while Main Market shed 36.66 points. The BK Main 50 slid 70 pts to 5,516.40 points. The volume turnover meanwhile ticked up after hitting a multi-month low in the previous session. Over 176 million shares changed hands – 6 pct rise from Wednesday.
The sectors closed mostly in green. Technology outshone the rest with 6.6 percent gain whereas Utilities shed 1.33 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 75.32 million shares while Banking sector dominated in value with KD 12.3 million.
In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait slipped 6 fils to 851 fils after pushing 2.2 million shares whereas Gulf Bank took in 2 fils on back of 4.7 million shares partly erasing last session’s gains.
Commercial Bank tumbled 40 fils to 510 fils erasing most of Wednesday’s gains while National Investment Co dialed down 2 fils. Mabanee Co inched 1 fils into green whereas Humansoft Holding tripped 1 fils. NAPESCO gained 10 fils.
Zain dropped 5 fils to 583 fils after moving 2.2 million shares while Ooredoo took in 1 fils. stc gave up 4 fils before closing at 842 fils and has shed 13 fils month-to-date while logistics major Agility sprinted 8 fils to 938 fils on back of 2.9 million shares. Mezzan Holding rose 5 fils to 633 fils and Boursa Kuwait Securities scaled 10 fils United Projects Co was down 9 fils at 273 fils.
National Industries Group was unchanged at 219 fils with a volume of 1.58 million shares whereas Gulf Cable dialed down 2 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co too gave up 2 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co crept 1 fils higher to 390 fils. Jazeera Airways gained more altitude with a 23 fils jump to 669 fils and ALAFCO added 1 fils on back of 2.59 million shares. Sultan Centre rose 4 fils to 197 fils.
The market opened firm and pulled higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6,410 points and flipped direction. It continued to decline and bottomed at 6360 pts well past the mid-session as sentiment turned weak. It drifted listlessly in the final minutes before closing with moderate losses.
Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) sprinted 6.9 percent to 155 fils and Automated Systems Co climbed 6.6 pct to stand next. MRC skidded 10 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank BSC topped the volume with 20.7 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s pullback, the losers outnumbered the winners. 57 stocks advanced whereas 64 closed lower. Of the 137 counter active on Thursday, 16 closed flat. 9384 deals worth KD 33.55 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House inched 1 fil higher to 756 fils on back of 3.7 million shares whereas Burgan Bank and Kuwait International Bank dialed down 1 fil each whereas Boubyan Bank held ground at 748 fils after pushing over 1 million shares.
Warba Bank ticked 1 fil higher to 249 fils whereas Ahli United Bank BSC gave up 2 fils with brisk trading. Al Ahli Bank and Ahli United Bank dialed down 2 fils each to close at 211 fils and 295 fils respectively.
KIPCO crept 1 fil up to 160 fils whereas Al Imtiaz Investment erased 3 fils. Kuwait Investment Co paused at 228 fils while International Financial Advisors clipped 2 fils. Noor Financial Investment Co gained 5 fils and Tamdeen Investment Co erased 4 fils before ending at 251 fils. KAMCO scaled 4 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co rose 2 fils to 244 fils whereas Kuwait Portland Cement was unchanged at 869 fils. Metal and Recycling Co skidded 18 fils to 162 fils and Kuwait Foundry Co scaled 7 fils. ACICO Industries and Equipment Holding Co held ground at 123 fils and 35 fils respectively whereas HEISC closed 3 fils in green.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co ticked 0.1 fil up to 57 fils while Educational Holding Co sprinted 20 fils to 750 fils. Arabi Holding gave up 4 fils after pushing over 1 million shares while IFA Hotels and Resorts and Mashaer Holding clipped 1 fil each.
Combined Group Contracting Co fell 3 fils to 292 fils whereas Burgan Company for Well Drilling dialed up 1 fil. Egypt Kuwait Holding gained 4 fils and Inovest BSC whittled down 2 fils. OSOS Holding Group took in 1.8 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co eased 1 fil to 830 fils.
The market was mixed during the week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions, shedding 21 points week-on-week. It had rallied 176 points during whole of June and is up 797 points year-to-date.