Kuwait index wraps up week on cheery note, volume swells
KUWAIT CITY, April 28: Kuwait stocks pivoted north Thursday to wrap up the week on a cheery note. The All Shares Index climbed 40.13 points in a broad advance to 8358.46 pts led by some of the heavyweights.
The Premier Market jumped 45.38 points to 9308.03 pts taking the month’s gain to 247 points while Main Market scaled 28.97 points. The BK Main 50 sprinted 30.98 points to 6673.96 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose past the 300 million mark to hit a two-month high. Over 325 million shares changed hands – up 10 percent from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in green. Technology outshone the rest with 2.22 percent gain while Energy shed 1 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 158.4 million shares and Banking was ahead in value with KD 36.35 million.
Among the standout performers, Boubyan Bank climbed 10 fils to 981 fils on back of 1.39 million shares while Burgan Bank paced 7 fils before settling at 2.7 million shares. National Investment Co and KIPCO gained 5 fils each with the latter moving 11.2 million shares during the session while Noor Financial Investment sprinted 10 fils to 330 fils. Gulf Insurance Group soared 70 fils.
Zain climbed 11 fils to 681 fils on back of 7.9 million shares while Ooredoo took in 1 fil. stc stood pat at 831 fils and logistics major Agility sprinted 8 fils to KD 1.250 extending Wednesday’s gain. Mabanee Co slipped 5 fils to 835 fils and Humansoft Holding closed 3 fils in red. Boursa Kuwait Securities paced 15 fils whereas Educational Holding tumbled 138 fils to KD 3.100.
National Industries Group fell 2 fils to 315 fils after moving over 9 million shares and is up 34 fils month-to-date whereas Gulf Cable was up 6 fils at KD 1.765. Boubyan Petrochemical Co climbed 8 fils to KD 1.016 and Qurain Petrochemical Co added 1 fil. Integrated Holding dropped 10 fils to 438 fils and Mezzan Holding closed 3 fils in green. NAPESCO skidded 40 fils to 800 fils.
The market opened firm and ticked up in early trade. The main index moved sideways briefly before pivoting north amid buying spurt in some of the counters. It peaked at 8382 points in the final minutes before giving up some of the gain at close.
Rallied
Top gainer of the day, Salbook rallied 11.11 percent to 26 fils while Marakez scaled 8.7 pct to stand next. Fujairah Cement shed 6.52 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and GFH topped the volume with 77.3 million shares.
Mirroring the day’s gain, the winners outnumbered the losers. 72 stocks advanced while 45 closed lower. Of the 138 counters active on Thursday, 21 closed flat. 14.143 deals worth KD 87.6 million were transacted during the session.
Kuwait Investment Co took in 1 fils whereas International Financial Advisors stood pat at 110 fils after moving 4.3 million shares. Arzan Financial Group and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) added 2 fils each whereas Gulf Investment House shed 10 fils. Aayan Leasing and Investment rose 4 fils to 190 fils on back of 5.8 million shares.
KAMCO Investment was unchanged at 143 fils whereas Osoul Investment gave up 4.8 fils. KFIC trimmed 0.9 fils while Al Deera Holding dropped 8 fils to 180 fils. Bayan Investment inched 0.7 fil up to 39.5 fils and Al Safat Investment closed 3 fils in red. Tamdeen Investment stood pat at 429 fils.
Down
National Real Estate paused at 239 fils after moving 15.8 million shares whereas Salhia Real Estate gave up 8 fils. Tamdeen Real Estate dialed down 2 fils and Ajial Real Estate added 2 fils. Kuwait Insurance Group was unchanged at 239 fills. Kuwait Cement Co fell 3 fils to 254 fils whereas Kuwait Portland Cement scaled 12 fils. HEISC climbed 13 fils to 847 fils on back of 1.2 million shares while Shuaiba Industrial and NCCI paused at 240 fils and 137 fils respectively. Metal and Recycling Co eased 0.1 fil to 86.7 fils while ACICO Industries took in 1 fil. Equipment Holding added 1.5 fils.
Kuwait National Cinema Co added 3 fils and Safat Energy dialed up 2.7 fils to close at 47.5 fils. Warba Capital Holding took in 1 fil and Sultan Centre closed 3 fils in red. Arabi Group Holding climbed 8 fils to 368 fils whereas Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co erased 3.1 fils. KCPC jumped 23 fils to 520 fils.
Burgan Company For Well Drilling and United Projects Co dialed up 2 fils each whereas Combined Group Contracting Co erased 3 fils. Mashaer Holding trimmed 0.9 fil and IFA Hotels and Resorts ticked 0.1 fil up. Advanced Technology dropped 13 fils whereas Egypt Kuwait Holding paced 4 fils. Inovest BSC gained 12 fils.
The market has been largely upbeat during the week. The main index closed higher in three of the five sessions scaling 92 points week-on-week. It has gained 213 points from start of the month and is up 1316 points year-to-date.