Kuwait’s stock market edges lower in volatile session
KCIN scales 15 fils, YIACO Medical dips
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 12: Kuwait stocks edged lower Sunday partly erasing last session’s gains. The All Shares Index slipped 4.46 points in volatile session to 6,805.20 points even as the overall mood remained mixed.
The Premier Market dropped 7.37 points to 7,435.07 pts while Main Market added 2.20 points. The BK Main 50 was down 9.95 pts at 5,822.87 points. The volume turnover meanwhile ticked up after hitting six-month low in the previous session. Over 173 million shares changed hands – up 0.5 pct from Thursday.
The sectors closed mixed. Consumer Discretionary outpaced the rest with 0.67 pct gain whereas Technology shed 1.19 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with over 92 million shares and the sector was also ahead in value with KD 13.3 million.
In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait took in 1 fil to close at 939 fils whereas Kuwait Finance House tripped 2 fils after pushing over 2 million shares and is trading 152 fils higher year-to-date. Boursa Kuwait Securities Co jumped 25 fils.
Zain was unchanged at 598 fils while Ooredoo gave up 4 fils before settling at 645 fils. stc fell 3 fils to 855 fils and logistics major Agility dialed down 2 fils paring the year-to-date gains to 314 fils. National Investment Co added 2 fils on back of 4.8 million shares whereas KIPCO and Mabanee stood pat at 156 fils and 785 fils respectively.
National Industries Group inched 1 fil higher to 236 fils on back of 10.4 million shares whereas Gulf Cable tripped 1 fil. Jazeera Airways saw a modest 3 fils lift whereas ALAFCO held ground at 236 fils. Integrated Holding Co stood pat at 376 fils and Aznour too did not budge from its earlier close of 238 fils. Egypt Kuwait Holding gained 5 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dropped 9 fils to 868 fils whereas Al Qurain Petrochemical Co took in 1 fil.
Mezzan Holding rose 2 fils to 604 fils and Humansoft Holding scaled 5 fils before settling at KD 3.355. United Projects Co climbed 8 fils to 258 fils whereas YIACO Medical shed 20 fils. Educational Holding Co climbed 8 fils to 708 fils while Kuwait National Cinema Co (KCIN) paced 15 fils before ending at 825 fils.
The market opened firm and pulled higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6,820 points and drifted south as sentiment turned sour. It bottomed at 6,802 pts past the mid-session and moved sideways before closing with small losses.
Top gainer of the day, First Takaful Insurance sprinted 8.89 pct to 49 fils while Al Aqaria scaled 6.15 percent to stand next. NIH slid 8.2 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with over 13 million shares.
Despite the day’s drop, the winners outnumbered the losers. 59 stocks advanced whereas 49 closed lower. Of the 134 counters active on Sunday, 26 closed flat. 7,047 deals worth KD 31.69 million were transacted during the session.
In the banking sector, Burgan Bank eased 1 fil to 231 fils after pushing over 2 million shares whereas Kuwait International Bank stood pat at 224 fils. Boubyan Bank dialed down 1 fil before ending at 780 fils.
Warba Bank rose 3 fils to 264 fils on back of over 3 million shares whereas Ahli United Bank dialed down 2 fils. Al Ahli Bank fell 2 fils to 220 fils and Ahli United Bank Kuwait closed 3 fils in red.
Kuwait Investment Co rose 3 fils to 262 fils on back of over 3 million shares and Arzan Financial Group followed suit. International Financial Advisors tripped 1 fil while Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) gave up 2 fils. KFIC added 1.5 fils whereas KAMCO stood pat at 129 fils. Noor Financial Investment Co dialed up 1 fil.
Kuwait Cement Co eased 1 fil to 242 fils whereas HEISC was up 4 fils at 485 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co and ACICO Industries gave up 3 fils each to close at 385 fils and 113 fils respectively whereas Metal and Recycling Co crept 1 fil up to 119 fils. NICBM dialed up 1 fil while Kuwait Hotels Co closed 4.4 fils in red.
Advanced Technology added 1 fil whereas Inovest BSC tripped 0.8 fil. Soor Fuel Marketing took in 2 fils and Mashaer Holding closed 1 fil in green. OSOS Holding eased 0.9 fil to 96.1 fils whereas IFA Hotels and Resorts added 2.2 fils. Sultan Centre took in 1 fil and Arabi Holding Group clipped 1 fil.
Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co was unchanged at 50.7 fils and Automated Systems Co trimmed 1.2 fils. Burgan Company For Well Drilling was unchanged at 170 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co scaled 4 fils before closing at 375 fils.
The market was mixed during the past week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions erasing 3 points week-on-week. It has slipped 7 points month-to-date and is up 1,261 points year-to-date.