Kuwait bourse edges up in choppy session

This news has been read 8420 times!

Gulf Bank climbs 3 fils; Ooredoo slips

 

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 25: Kuwait stocks edged higher on Thursday to wind up the week on a positive note. The All Shares Index rose 5.65 pts in choppy session to 5,039.56 pts led by heavyweights even as the broader sentiment remained soggy.

The Prime Market climbed 19.4 pts to 5,228.31 points paring the month’s losses to 115 pts while Main Market dipped 19.7 points to 4,696.96 points. The volume turnover meanwhile swelled for second straight session to hit the month’s high. Over 73 million shares changed hands – 40.3 pct surge from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 0.8 pct gain whereas consumer services shed 0.62 percent, the worst performer of the day.

Volume wise, banks mustered the highest market share of 55.9 percent and financials services trailed with 19.5 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait rose 3 fils to 818 fils on back of over 1 million shares and Gulf Bank followed suit to end at 260 fils with brisk trading. Jazeera Airways climbed 11 fils to 738 fils and Mabanee Co took in 1 fil. Zain inched 1 fil higher to 445 fils on back of 1.5 million shares and Ooredoo was down 6 fils at 751 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) slipped 5 fils and Agility climbed 5 fils to 813 fils with a volume of over 1 million.

The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 5,045 pts and trading choppy thereafter as small gains alternated with losses.

It bottomed at 5,038 pts in the final minutes before closing in the green turf. Top gainer of the day, Al Aqaria soared 18.91 pct to 23.9 pts and First Takaful Insurance climbed 7.2 percent to stand next. Massaleh dipped 9.8 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Gulf Bank topped the volume with over 11 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s uptick, the winners slightly outnumbered the losers. 52 stocks advanced whereas 50 closed lower. Of the 121 counters active on Thursday, 19 closed flat. 3,340 deals worth KD 18.9 million were transacted – a 65.8 percent spike in value from the day before.

National Industries Group dialed up 1 fil on back of 1.3 million shares and Mezzan Holding clipped 2 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co stood pat at KD 1.036 and Al Qurain Petrochemical fell 3 fils to 406 fils . Kuwait Portland Cement fell 2 fils to KD 1.063 while Gulf Cable and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co dropped 7 fils each. KCPC took in 1 fil with razor thin trading and KPPC held ground at 51 fils. Humansoft Holding slipped 11 fils to KD 3.124 and NAPESCO was up 3 fils at 830 fils.

Burgan Well Drilling Co paused at 100 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts gave up 5 fils to wind up at 85 fils. UPAC dropped 10 fils to 610 fils and ALAFCO clipped 1 fil. ACICO Industries and Ithmaar Holding were unchanged at 200 fils and 29.1 fils respectively while Equipment Holding tripped 0.2 fil before closing at 28.2 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co dialed up 2.2 fils and KGL Logistics tripped 0.1 fil.

Al Rai Media Group edged 0.9 fil lower to 52 fils and Inovest trimmed 0.4 fil. Mashaer Holding closed 2.2 fils in red. In the banking sector, Burgan Bank was fl at at 275 fils with a volume of 5.4 million and Kuwait Finance House dialed up 2 fils. Kuwait International Bank rose 3 fils to 238 fils and Warba Bank inched 1 fil into green.

Al Ahli Bank slipped 7 fils to 289 fils and Al Mutahed ticked 1 fil higher. Commercial Bank fell 5 fils to 505 fils and Boubyan Bank took in 2 fils. The bank’s net profits climbed 18 pct to KD 40.3 million during the ninemonth period ended on Sept 30, 2018 as against same period last year. Ahli United Bank stood pat at 206 fils. KIPCO paused at 207 fils and Gulf Finance House rose 2.1 fils to 96.1 fils. Kuwait Investment Co fell 2 fils to 120 fils whereas Coast Investment and KMEFIC trimmed 0.5 fil each.

National Investment Co added 1.6 fils while International Financial Advisors ticked 0.1 fil into red. FACIL gained 7 fils and Securities House Co inched 0.1 fil up to 48.7 fils. Al Mal Investment edged 0.2 fil higher and Osoul fell 1.4 fils to 57 fils.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) eased 1 fil to 88.5 fils and Bayan Investment tripped 0.6 fil. KFIC and Al Deera Holding added 0.3 fil each whereas Osoul clipped 1.7 fils before closing at 57 fils. KAMCO and Noor Financial Investment Co ticked 0.1 fil higher each to 64.5 fils and 51.4 fils respectively whereas Ektittab Holding edged 0.6 fil higher. Al Madina trimmed 0.5 fil and Al Imtiaz clipped 1 fil to close at 126 fils.

Kuwait Real Estate took in 0.1 fil whereas United Real Estate and National Real Estate Co stood pat at 61 fils and 91 fils respectively. Mazaya Holding fell 1.7 fils to 70.3 fils and Salhiya Real Estate paused at 328 fils. The bourse was mixed during the week.

The main index closed higher in three of the five sessions gaining 35 points week-on-week and has shed 89 points from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

This news has been read 8420 times!

Related Articles

Back to top button

Advt Blocker Detected

Kindly disable the Ad blocker

Verified by MonsterInsights