Kuwait stock market ekes out small gain in volatile session
KUWAIT CITY, April 26: Kuwait stocks eked modest gain Tuesday extending last session’s rebound. The All Shares Index climbed 17.20 pts in volatile session to 8346.98 points paced by blue chips even as the overall mood remained positive.
The Premier Market climbed 36.89 points to 9279.86 pts taking the month’s gain to 219 points while Main Market shed 30.60 pts. The BK Main 50 was down 30.14 points at 6688.57 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for the second straight session. Over 218 million shares changed hands – up 12 percent from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in green. Energy sector outshone the rest the 2.34 percent gain while Technology skidded 4.93 pct, the worst performer of the DAY. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 83.4 million shares and Banking sector was ahead in value with KD 24 million.
Among the notable gainers, KIPCO rallied 5 fils to 195 fils on back of 4.3 million shares while Boursa Kuwait Securities jumped 25 fils to KD 2.670. Boubyan Bank scaled 12 fils before settling at 978 fils and sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait paced 3 fils with a volume of over 4 million. NAPESCO sprinted 27 fils to 840 fils extending Monday’s gain.
Zain rose 4 fils to 654 fils on back of 5.9 million shares while Ooredoo dialed up 2 fils. stc slid 28 fils to 856 fils after moving 1.49 million shares whereas Agility sprinted 9 fils to KD 1.238 taking the month’s gain to 133 fils. Humansoft Holding was down 19 fils at KD 3.399 and Mabanee Co gave up 3 fils before settling at 848 fils. National Investment Co added 2 fils and Commercial Bank dropped 25 fils.
National Industries Group inched 1 fil higher to 317 fils on back of 5.8 million shares and Gulf Cable paced 3 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co climbed 11 fils to KD 1.015 while Qurain Petrochemical closed 3 fils in green. Jazeera Airways dropped 11 fils to KD 1.900 partly erasing last session’s gain whereas ALAFCO stood pat 215 fils. Integrated Holding Co jumped 32 fils to 474 fils.
The market opened firm and rose sharply in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 8730 pts and pulled back before see sawing in a broad range. It bottomed at 8348 pts past the mid-session and spiked again in the final hour before ending with modest gain.
Top gainer of the day, GFC climbed 7.79 percent to 83 fils while Integrated Holding scaled 7.24 pct to stand next. Fujairah Cement skidded 13.64 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and GFH topped the volume with 26.8 million.
Reflecting the day’s gain, the winners outnumbered the losers. 65 stocks advanced whereas 51 closed lower. Of the 136 counters active on Tuesday, 20 closed flat. 13,476 deals worth KD 67.5 million were transacted during the session.
Kuwait Investment Co was flat at 263 fils and Arzan Financial Group was up 3 fils at 164 fils. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) eased 1 fil to 168 fils after pushing 2.9 million shares while KMEFIC took in 1 fil First Investment dialed down 2 fils with brisk trading and Bayan Investment trimmed 0.8 fil. KFIC added 2 fils.
KAMCO Investment was flat at 142 fils at and Al Deera Holding too did not budge from its earlier close of 188 fils. Noor Financial Investment scaled 9 fils whereas Tamdeen Investment stood pat at 429 fils. Gulf Investment House was up 4 fils at 309 fils. Rasiyat Holding fell 3 fils to 122 fils and Al Ahleia Insurance Co shed 20 fils.
National Real Estate Co climbed 7 fils to 243 fils on back of 21.6 million shares whereas Salhia Real Estate clipped 2 fils. Tamdeen Real Estate scaled 6 fils whereas Ajial Real Estate was unchanged at 306 fils. United Real Estate Co closed 4.1 fils in green.
Kuwait Cement Co took in 1 fil whereas Kuwait Portland Cement skidded 46 fils to KD 1.070. Shuaiba Industrial and Metal and Recycling Co dialed up 1 fil each whereas HEISC skidded 50 fils to 890 fils after pushing 3.3 million shares and ACICO Industries tripped 1 fil. NICBM and NCCI paused at 250 fils and 132 fils respectively whereas Warba Capital added 2 fils.
Sultan Centre climbed 6 fils tom 174 fils whereas Arabi Group Holding gave up 3 fils before settling at 367 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co inched 0.1 fil up to 76 fils whereas Automated Systems Co erased 4.7 fils. KCPC slipped 5 fils to 491 fils. Gulf Franchising Holding paced 6 fils.
Burgan Company For Well Drilling climbed 6 fils on back of 1.2 million shares while Combined Group Contracting Co jumped 22 fils on back of 2.49 million shares. IFA Hotels and Resorts ticked 0.5 fil up whereas OSOS Holding Group gained 5 fils.
The market has been largely upbeat so far during the week and has scaled 80 points at the end of last three sessions. It has gained 201 points from start of the month and is up 1304 points year-to-date.