Kuwait bourse tumbles amid volume ‘rebound’

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KFH skids 29 fils, KIPCO ticks up

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 18: Kuwait stocks fell sharply on Wednesday as it continued its losing streak to sixth straight session. The All Shares Index skidded 106.63 points to 5,502.28 pts weighed by selling in most of the heavyweights even as the sentiment remains jittery following the attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

The Premier Market slid 135.3 points to 5,934.59 pts taking the month’s losses to 593 points while Main Market dipped 47.82 points to 4,669.08 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile bounced back to hit a multi-week high. Over 198 million shares changed hands – a 80 pct surge from the day before. The sectors closed mostly lower. Consumer Goods outshone the rest with 0.54 pct gain whereas Banking sector dived 2.64 percent, the worst performer of the day.

Volume wise, banks topped in both volume and value with 107.3 million and KD 49.7 million respectively. Among the notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait tumbled 21 pts to 907 fils after trading 10.5 million shares while Kuwait Finance House skidded 29 fils to 629 fils with brisk trading. Mabanee Co was down 8 fils and National Industries Group followed suit to close at 213 fils after pushing 7.7 million shares.

Zain slipped 6 fils to 524 fils after trading 4.9 million shares while Ooredoo shed 10 fils before winding up at 704 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) dropped 10 fils to 778 fils and Agility dialed down 2 fils to close at 694 fils. Humansoft Holding gave up 11 fils. The market opened firm and ticked slightly up in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 5,627 pts and edged lower amid selling at some of the counters.

It bottomed at 5,420.58 points in the final hour before clawing back some of the losses at close. Top gainer of the day, KSHC rallied 9.38 pct to 35 fils and AREEC climbed 6.2 percent to stand next. KFIC tumbled 13 percent the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Finance House topped the volume with 36.6 million shares. Mirroring the day’s slide, the market spread was skewed towards the losers.

20 stocks advanced whereas 87 closed flat. Of the 121 counters active on Wednesday, 14 closed flat. 9,263 deals worth KD 62 million were transacted during the session. Kuwait Foundry Co jumped 6 fils to 425 fils and Kuwait Cement Co stood pat at 265 fils. Sharjah Cement Co dialed up 2 fils and Gulf CementCo added 2.3 fils before closing at 61.9 fils.

Fujairah Cement clipped 2 fils and Ras Al Khaimah fell 0.7 fil to 64.3 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co dipped 11 fils to 217 fils and Mashaer Holding eased 0.1 fil. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co eased 1 fil to 396 fils and Gulf Cable was down 4 fils at 409 fils. Equipment Holding Co trimmed 0.9 fil and Salbookh Trading ticked 1 fil lower.

Jazeera Airways shed 17 fils with thin trading whereas ALAFCO and OSOS stood pat at 257 fils and 101 fils respectively. KCPC climbed 11 fils to 212 fils and KPPC trimmed 1.1 fils. Soor Fuel ticked 1 fil into red and FutureKid was unchanged at 86.1 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co dropped 20 fils to 770 fils whereas Educational Holding Group and International Petroleum Group paused at 320 fils and 435 fils respectively. AAN ticked 0.1 fil lower and Gulf Petroleum Investment dialed down 2 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co tripped 1.2 fils to settle at 72 fils and KGL Logistics eased 0.1 fil to 38.7 fils. Al Rai Media Group fell 0.8 fil to 38.1 fils. Energy Holding clipped 0.5 fil and NICBM gave up 2 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank fell 2 fils to 283 fils after trading 16.4 million shares and Kuwait International Bank was down 11 fils at 257 fils. Burgan Bank took in 1 fil on back of 4.3 million shares and Boubyan Bank shed 11 fils to close at 516 fils. Commercial Bank was unchanged at 500 fils and Al Ahli Bank slipped 4 fils to 296 fils. Al Mutahed dived 15 fils to 310 fils and Warba Bank gave up 7 fils after trading over 2 million shares.

Ahli United Bank slid 8 fils to 260 fils and the counter saw 32.2 million shares change hands KIPCO dialed up 2 fils with a volume of 2.3 million shares while Gulf Finance House inched 0.1 fil into green. FACIL was down 5 fils at 191 fils while International Financial Advisors fell 3.8 fils to 49 fils.

National Investment Co slipped 3 fils to 129 fils while Arzan and ALOLA trimmed 0.4 fil each. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) tripped 1.8 fils to 90.5 fils and Bayan Investment fell 1.9 fils to 39.9 fils. Coast Investment Co erased 0.7 fil and Securities House closed 0.5 fil below the rim. Al Aman fell 1.4 fils to 54.5 fils. KFIC dropped 6.3 fils to 41.5 fils while Unicap and Ektittab Holding tripped 0.4 fil each. Noor Financial Investment fell 3.4 fils to 80.1 fils and Sokouk Holding gave up 1.2 fils. Al Imtiaz was down 7 fils at 119 fils and Warba Insurance Co added 3 fils.

National Real Estate Co fell 2.1 fils to 77.9 fils and Salhiya Real Estate gave up 4 fils to close at 326 fils. Tamdeen Real Estate paused at 300 fils and Mazaya Holding clipped 1.4 fils. The bourse has been weak so far during the week sliding 241 points in last four sessions. It has skidded 439 pts so far during the month and is trading 423 pts higher yearto- date. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

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