Kuwait bourse closes week on tame note, volume ticks up
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 2: Kuwait stocks trod water on Thursday to end the week on a tame note. The All Shares Index gave up early gains to close 0.21 pts down at 6,813.11 points even as the market sentiment turned mixed.
The Premier Market fell 3.40 points to 7,458.81 pts after scaling 267 points during whole of August while Main Market gained 7.23 pts. The BK Main 50 was up 4.33 points at 5,828.63 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a modest bounce after the two day drop. Over 310 million shares change hands – up 10 percent from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in green turf. Insurance outpaced the rest with 1.21 percent gain while Healthcare shed 0.90 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Real Estate continued to top the volume with 134.4 million shares while Banking sector was ahead in value with KD 16.4 million.
In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait ticked 1 fil higher to 940 fils after pushing 3.5 million shares while Burgan Bank dialed 2 fils on back of over 5 million shares and closed at 791 fils. National Investment gave up 5 fils whereas Mabanee Co extended last session’s gains with 4 fils rise to 786 fils and is up 129 fils year-todate.
Zain slipped 6 fils to 602 fils after moving 5.9 million shares while Ooredoo closed 2 fils in red. stc inched 1 fil higher to 858 fils whereas logistics major Agility edged 2 fils lower to KD 1.003. Boursa Kuwait jumped 28 fils to KD 1.690 and Humansoft Holding was down 12 fils at KD 3.393.
KIPCO took in fils and Gulf Insurance Group soared 30 fils to 890 fils. NAPESCO rose 10 fils to 790 fils whereas Al Kout Industrial Projects gained 8 fils. Mezzan Holding rose 4 fils to 617 fils. Advanced Technology Co shed 24 fils before closing at 518 fils.
National Industries Group ticked 1 fil higher to 232 fils on back of 6.4 million shares while Gulf Cable paced 12 fils. Jazeera Airways slipped 5 fils to 857 fils whereas ALAFCO dialed up 1 fil. Boubyan Petrochemical Co climbed 8 fils go 874 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gave up 3 fils.
The market opened firm and rose sharply in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6,827 points and drifted lower as buying zeal waned. It bottomed at 6,803 points in the final hour before clawing back to opening mark.
Top gainer of the day, Thuraya soared 15.78 pct to 95.5 fils and Kuwait Hotels sprinted 9.4 percent to stand next. QIC skidded 14.25 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding continued to top the volume with 65.5 million shares.
Lower
Despite the day’s tame finish, the winners slightly outnumbered the losers. 68 stocks advanced while 61 closed lower. Of the 143 counters active on Thursday, 14 closed flat. 10.218 deals worth KD 50.0 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House was unchanged at 824 fils whereas Boubyan Bank took in 2 fils, Gulf Bank paused at 240 fils after pushing 8.8 million shares and Kuwait International Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of 227 fils.
Warba Bank slipped 4 fils to 263 fils after pushing 8.8 million shares while Ahli United Bank BSC and Ahli United Bank Kuwait clipped 1 fil each. Al Ahli Bank added 1 fil to close at 325 fils.
Kuwait Investment Co and Arzan Financial Group dialed up 1 fil each whereas Osoul Investment Co edged 1 fil into red. KAMCO stood pat at 131 fils and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) took in 1 fil. Noor Financial Group fell 3 fils to 289 fils and Tamdeen Investment gave up 2 fils.
Higher
Kuwait Cement Co moved 4 fils higher to 243 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement crept 1 fil into green. HEISC and Metal and Recycling Co paced 6 fils each whereas Shuaiba Industrial Co was down 7 fils at 216 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co eased 1 fil to 389 fils whereas ACICO Industries stood pat at 114 fils.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co tripped 0.4 fil while Automated Systems Co took in 1 fil whereas KCPC fell 3 fils to 550 fils. Educational Holding climbed 8 fils to 688 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts ticked 0.5 fil into green. Sultan Centre tripped 1 fil whereas Arabi Group Holding was unchanged at 167 fils.
Burgan Company For Well Drilling dialed up 1 fil whereas Combined Group Contracting Co was down 6 fils at 357 fils. OSOS Holding Group tripped 1.6 fils while United Projects Co and Oula Fuel Marketing erased 4 fils each to close at 213 fils and 159 fils respectively.
The market was largely positive during the week. The main index closed higher in four of the five sessions scaling 21 points week-on-week. It had rallied 205 points during whole of August and is up 1,267 points year-to-date.