Kuwait bourse retreats in choppy trade, volume up
Kuwait stocks slipped into a shallow trough on Monday erasing most of last session’s gains. The All Shares Index dropped 9.35 points in choppy trade to 264.85 pts weighed by some heavyweights even as the banks remained mostly muted.
The Premier Market slipped 16.11 points to 6911 pts taking the month’s losses to 25 points whereas Main Market scaled 6.18 points. The BK Main 50 index gave up 5 pts to close at 5546.13 points. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for the third straight session. Over 264 million shares changed hands – up 12 pct from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in green. Technology outshone the rest with 2.78 percent gain whereas Industries shed 1.16 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 166.8 million and sector was also ahead in value with KD 19 million.
In the individual shares, Gulf Bank rose 3 fils on back of 4.9 million shares to 245 fils whereas Warba Bank gave up 3 fils to close at 246 fils. Mabanee Co slipped 4 fils to 712 fils and KIPCO dialed down 2 fils after pushing 2.3 million shares. Humansoft Holding skidded 169 fils to KD 3.521 extending last session’s slide whereas Boursa Kuwait Securities sprinted 30 fils to KD 1.451.
Zain fell 2 fils to 582 fils after moving 1.8 million shares while Ooredoo gave up 3 fils. stc tripped 1 fil and logistics major Agility slipped 4 fils to 937 fils with a volume of 2.8 million. Mezzan Holding took in 1 fils whereas National ank of Kuwait and Kuwait Finance House stood pat at 857 fils and 754 fils respectively. National Investment Co eased 1 fil to 171 fils.
National Industries Group inched 1 fil lower to 220 fils after trading 2.7 million shares while Gulf Cable shed 15 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co paced 5 fils whereas Al Qurain Petrochemical Co paused at 389 fils. Jazeera Airways climbed 28 fils to 699 fils and ALAFCO was unchanged at 218 fils. Integrated Holding and Aznour too stalled at 364 fils and 223 fils respectively whereas Automated Systems Co added 3 fils.
The market opened firm and slipped into red in early trade. The main index flipped direction and clawed back most of the losses in choppy trading before heading south again. It continued to erode amid selling in some of the counters and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6366 pts in the final minutes before closing with small losses.
Top gainer of the day, PAPCO darted 9.83 percent to 65.9 fils and Kuwait Real Estate Co scaled 9.77 pct to stand close behind. Massaleh skidded 6.73 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Aayan Leasing topped the volume with 57 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s pullback, the losers slightly outnumbered the winners. 57 stocks advanced whereas 60 closed lower. Of the 138 counters active on Monday, 21 closed flat. 11,556 deals worth KD 50 million were transacted during the session. In the banking sector, Burgan Bank and Kuwait International Bank both paused at 223 fils each whereas Boubyan Bank dialed down 2 fils. Ahli United Bank BSC clipped 2 fils after pushing 15.4 million shares whereas Al Ahli Bank closed flat at 212 fils. Ahli United Bank Kuwait gave up 2 fils.
Kuwait Investment Co was unchanged at 228 fils whereas International Financial Advisors and Arzan Financial Group added 1 fil each. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) dropped 5 fils to 163 fils after pushing over 4 million shares while Gulf Investment House and KFIC dialed down 2 fils each.
Osoul Investment ticked 1 fil higher to 81 fils whereas KAMCO shed 6 fils. Al Deera Holding added 2 fils and Unicap closed 3.1 fils in green. Al Ahleia Insurance dipped 10 fils to 500 fils whereas Kuwait Reinsurance Co galloped 25 fils to 281 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co fell 3 fils to 242 fil and Kuwait Portland Cement erased 2 fils with thin trading. Shuaiba Industrial and HEISC dialed down 1 fil each whereas Metal and Recycling Co added 2 fils. ACICO Industries tripped 1 fil and Kuwait Foundry Co added 1 fil. Independent Petroleum Group ticked 1 fil higher to 611 fils whereas Kuwait Hotels erased 3.4 fils. Egypt Kuwait Holding gained 10 fils.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co eased 1.9 fils to 52 fils whereas Automated Systems Co and KCPC added 3 fils each to close at 111 fils and 548 fils respectively. Educational Holding slid 26 fils to 718 fis while Advanced Technology Co gave up 6 fils. Burgan Company For Well Drilling took in 2 fils whereas Combined Group Contracting Co shed 8 fils. Inovest BSC clipped 2 fils.
The market has been mixed so far during the week and has added 3 points in last two sessions. It has retreated 16 points from the start of the month and is up 800 points year-to-date.