Kuwait Stocks Eke Modest Gains In Lackluster Trading

24 October 2018 Business

Kuwait stock headed north on Tuesday, stemming the three-day fall. The All Shares Index climbed 14.12 pts in lackluster trading to 5,000.98 pts paced by some of the blue chips and midcaps. Humansoft Holding however extended its losses to third straight session.

The Premier Market climbed 23.8 pts to 5,170.76 pts paring the month’s losses to 173 points while Main Market fell 3.71 pts to 4,693.25 points. The volume turnover meanwhile ebbed again after Monday’s increase. Over 38 million shares changed hands — down 16 pct from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green turf. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 1.24 pct gain whereas industrials shed 0.58 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, banks cornered the highest market share of 39 pct and real estate trailed with 21 percent contribution. Among the notable movers, Kuwait Finance House rallied 7 fils to 579 fils on back of 1.3 million shares and Gulf Bank scaled 8 fils with brisk trading and is up 16 fils year-to-date. Mabanee Co climbed 6 fils to 615 fils whereas Humansoft Holding tumbled 88 fils to KD 3.012.

Zain dialed up 2 fils with a volume of 2.3 million and Ooredoo clipped 2 fils before settling at 750 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) stood pat at 720 fils whereas Agility inched 1 fil lower to 803 fils after trading over 1 million shares.

The market opened fl at and rose briefly in early trade. The main index drifted sideways thereafter between small gains and losses and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 4,984 pts almost an hour into the session. It traded choppy in the second half and revved up in the final minutes to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, Al Aqaria soared 15 pct to 24.3 fils and Al Mudon climbed 11 percent to stand next. First Takaful Insurance slid 13 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Gulf Bank topped the volume with 5.5 million shares. Despite the day’s modest gains, the losers outnumbered the winners. 39 stocks advanced whereas 46 closed lower.

Of the 115 counters active on Tuesday, 30 closed fl at. 2,600 deals worth KD 9.8 million were transacted — 3.4 pct increase in value from the day before. National Industries Group was unchanged at 155 fils and Mezzan Holding dialed up 2 fils.

Boubyan Petrochemical Co dipped 11 fils KD 1.037 extending Monday’s losses and Al Qurain Petrochemical scaled 14 fils. Jazeera Airways was unchanged at 730 fils whereas ALAFCO clipped 2 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co tripped 1 fil while Combined Group Contracting Co and ACICO dialed down 2 fils each to wind up at 358 fils and 198 fils respectively. Kuwait Foundry Co rose 3 fils to 191 fils and Gulf Cable was down 8 fils at 366 fils.

NICBM took in 2 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co stood pat at 100 fils. OSOS added 3 fils and KPPC trimmed 0.1 fil before closing at 51 fils. Mashaer Holding fell 2.2 fils to 42.2 fils. NAPESCO held ground at 825 fils and Independent Petroleum Group gained 10 fils.

The company’s third  quarter profits rose 1.3 pct to KD 1.46 million from same period last year. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co slipped 4.4 fils to 92.6 fils and KGL Logistics too did not budge from its earlier close of 40.8 fils. Al Rai Media Group tripped 0.5 fil and Ithmaar ticked 0.1 fil ino red. In the banking sector, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait fell 2 fils to 810 fils with a volume of 1.6 million whereas Kuwait International Bank and Burgan Bank paused at 231 fils and 272 fils respectively. Warba Bank was unchanged at 226 fils and Boubyan Bank followed suit. Al Ahli Bank clipped 1 fil and Al Mutahed stood pat at 290 fils. Ahli United Bank dialed up 1 fil whereas Commercial Bank of Kuwait was not traded during the session.

KIPCO and Gulf Finance House were fl at at 208 fils and 96 fils respectively whereas FACIL trimmed 1 fil. Kuwait Investment Co added 3 fils whereas Coast Investment Co and Securities House Co gave up 0.4 fil each. Bayan Investment eased 0.3 fil to 36 fils while Alola and Al Mal Investment took in 0.4 fil each. Arzan ticked 0.6 fil lower to 25 fils whereas Aaayan Investment and GIH paused at 32.3 fils and 14.9 fils respectively.

Al Aman fell 5 fils to 45 fils. KAMCO fell 2.7 fils to 64.3 fils while International Financial Advisors tripped 0.1 fil. Al Deera Holding added 0.9 fils and Ektittab Holding closed fl at at 21 fils. Sokouk Holding erased 0.9 fil and NIH gave up 4.4 fils. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) took in 0.5 fil while Al Imtiaz and Gulf Insurance Co were unchanged at 126 fils and 623 fils respectively. Warba Insurance Co dialed down 1.5 fils and Wethaq Takaful added 0.8 fil.

National Real Estate ticked 0.3 fils red whereas Kuwiat Real Estate paused at 45 fils. United Real Estate tripped 0.9 fil and Salhiya Real Estate inched 1 fil into red. Salhiya Real Estate dialed down 1 fil. The bourse has been mixed so far during the week clipping 4 points in last three sessions and has dipped 126 points from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.

 

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

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