Kuwait index continues its downward spiral, volume slips
KUWAIT CITY, May 16: Kuwait stocks fell sharply Monday as it continued its descent from the previous week. The All Shares Index dived 168.05 points in a broad decline to 7700.78 pts led by blue chips.
The Premier Market tumbled 211.68 points to 8525.48 pts taking the month’s loss to 783 points while Main Market slid 67.62 pts. BK Main 50 lost 61.29 points. The volume turnover meanwhile ebbed after hitting year’s highest level on Thursday. Over 351 million shares changed hands – down 28 percent from previous session.
All sectors, barring one, closed in red. Insurance, the only gainer, rose 2.31 percent while Technology skidded 4.74 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial sector topped with 159 million shares and Banking sector was ahead in value with KD 47.32 million.
Among the day’s losers, sector pivotal, National Bank of Kuwait slid 36 fils to 994 fils after pushing 9.4 million shares and Kuwait Finance House dropped 25 fils with a volume of over 20 million.
Boubyan Bank shed 23 fils extending Thursday’s loss and KIPCO gave up 7 fils before settling at 170 fils and the counter saw 6.6 million shares change hands. Mabanee Co closed 5 fils in red. Humansoft Holding dropped 20 fils to KD 3.080.
Zain slipped 6 fils to 602 fils after moving 9.2 million shares and Ooredoo was down 10 fils at 980 fils. stc slid 31 fils to 685 fils extending last session’s slide and logistics major Agility plunged 61 fils to KD 1.035 after pushing 1.9 million shares. National Investment Co bucked the trend with 16 fils jump to 401 fils and Kuwait Investment Co shed 25 fils. Boursa Kuwait Securities climbed 20 fils to KD 2.490.
National Industries Group slipped 11 fils to 288 fils after moving 14.7 million shares while Gulf Cable dived 70 fils extending last session’s slide. Jazeera Airway took a 14 fils lift to KD 1.814 whereas ALAFCO erased 4 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dropped 20 fils to KD 1.000 and Qurain Petrochemical Co stood pat at 372 fils. Mezzan Holding closed 7 fils in red.
The market opened firm and pivoted south in early trade. The main index continued to erode amid weak sentiment and closed with steep loss.
Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Reinsurance Co soared 20.66 pct to 327 fils and Kuwait Foundry Co sprinted 9.71 percent to stand next. Jiyad skidded 26.28 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and GFH topped the volume with 3.3 million shares.
Decline
Mirroring the day’s decline, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 41 stocks advanced while 90 closed lower. Of the 140 counters active on Monday, 9 closed flat. 24,070 deals worth KD 106.69 million were transacted during the session.
International Financial Advisors and Osoul Investment took in 1 fil each whereas Arzan Financial tripped 1 fil. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) fell 2 fils to 163 fils and Gulf Investment House was down 12 fils at 239 fils. First Investment slipped 4 fils to 91.1 fils and Aayan Leasing gave up 9 fils.
Bayan Investment trimmed 0.6 fil while National International House erased 7 fils. KAMCO Investment slipped 6 fils to 129 fils whereas Al Deera Holding scaled 9 fils with thin trading. Al Safat Investment dipped 31 fils to 154 fils and Noor Financial Investment paced 7 fils.
Shed
National Real Estate Co dialed up 2 fils on back of 12.4 million shares whereas Salhia Real Estate shed 11 fils. Tamdeen Real Estate and Ajial Real Estate added 4 fils to close at 339 fils and 300 fils respectively while Sanam Real Estate paced 6.6 fils.
Kuwait Cement Co dropped 12 fils to 232 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement shed 16 fils. HEISC plunged 76 fils to 724 fils whereas Shuaiba Industrial was unchanged at 257 fils. ACICO Industries scaled 5 fils and NICBM gave up 5 fils. Metal and Recycling Co eroded 4.3 fils.
Kuwait National Cinema Co dropped 30 fils to 860 fils and NCCI slipped 8 fils. Sultan Centre fell 6 fils to 150 fils whereas Arabi Group Holding climbed 7 fils to 297 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co added 3.6 fils and Automated Systems Co closed 4.5 fils in red. NAPESCO eased 1 fil to 798 fils while KCPC shed 20 fils.
Burgan Company For Well Drilling fell 5 fils to 146 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts erased 3.5 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co rose 4 fils to 393 fils while OSOS Holding Group added 2 fils. United Projects dropped 13 fils to 256 fils whereas Mashaer Holding took in 2.4 fils.
The market was extremely bearish during the past week. The main index closed lower in all five sessions plunging 490 points week-on-week. It has tumbled 658 points so far during the month and is up 657 points year-to-date.