Kuwait stocks bounce, stems two-day decline – NBK gains 16 fils; Ooredoo slides

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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 8: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Wednesday, stemming the sharp two-day decline. The price index climbed 37.06 pts in choppy trade to 6,180.07 points helped by late spurt in bargain buying . Banks led the day’s advance while other heavyweight closed mixed.

The KSX 15  benchmark rose 12.18 points to 887 pts trimming the month’s losses to 80 pts while weighted index added 3.4 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank below the 100 million mark . 99.6 million shares changed hands – down 43 pct from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Insurance outshone the rest with 2.46 percent gain whereas parallel market shed 1.38 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services clocked the highest market share of 39.4 pct and banks followed with 25.3 percent contribution.

Among the day’s prime movers,  sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait bounced 16 fils to 716 fils  on back of 3.8 million shares  and Kuwait Finance House climbed 10 fils to 521 fils. KIPCO was up 5 fils art 315 fils partly paring last session’s steep losses.

Shares

Zain fell 2 fils to 432 fils after trading 5.9 million shares and Ooredoo dropped 25 fils after clocking gains earlier in the week. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) was flat at 760 fils and logistics major Agility was up 4 fils at 724 fils.

Burgan Bank rose 3 fils to 313 fils whereas Al Mutahed gained 9 fils. The bank has registered a growth of 0.45 pct in profits during the third quarter of 2017 and during the first nine months, the bank posted a profit of KD 40.04 million.

The market opened firm and ticked briefly high in early trade. The main  index headed south thereafter as sentiment weakened and plumbed the  day’s lowest level of 6103 pts almost half way into the session. It traded sideways before pulling higher in the final minutes to close with modest  gains.

Top gainer of the day, Argan Real Estate Co jumped 19.7 pct to 158 fils and Taameer climbed 19.2 pct to stand next, Kuwait Cable Vision Co slumped 17.7 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and National Industries Group topped the volume with over 9 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s bounce, the winners outnumbered the losers, 67 stocks advanced whereas 43 closed lower. Of the 127 counters active on Wednesday, 17 closed flat. 4,499 deals worth KD 21.18 million were transacted – a 44.99 pct dip in value from the day before.

Kuwait Portland Cement Co spiked 20 fils to 920 fils and Kuwait Cement Co inched 1 fil higher. Gulf Cable  slipped 3 fils to 412 fils and National Industries Group dipped 16 fils to 140 fils. Heavy Engineering and Shipbuilding Co shed 24 fils.

Jazeera Airways rose 5 fils to 644 fils and ALAFCO stood pat at 355 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gave up 3 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co fell 5 fils to 315 fils. Al Kout Indutries dropped 10 fils and NICBM paused at 180 fils.

Kuwait National Cinema Co  dipped 20 fils to KD 1.480  while Educational Holding Group and Metal and Recycling  Co held ground at 308 fils and 71 fils respectively. Al Safat Energy ticked 0.5 fil into green and KPPC dialed up 1.6 fils.

Humansoft Holding tumbled 100 fils extending  steep early losses while NAPESCO was down 11 fils at 789 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co was unchanged at 59 fils while KGL Logistics dialed down 1.8 fils.

Combined Group Contracting Co climbed 15 fils to 495 fils and  UPAC   gained 70 fils. Mezzan Holding Co slipped 9 fils to 780 fils and Al Rai Media Group was up 5 fils at 115 fils.

In the banking sector, Kuwait International Bank jumped 17 fils to 217 fils  and Gulf Bank climbed 6 fils. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were flat at 400 fils and 312 fils respectively whereas Boubyan Bank gained 13 fils. Warba Bank ticked 1 fil up.

The bourse  has been  largely downbeat so far during the week and has dived  368 points in last four sessions.  It has sank 333 points from start of the month and is trading  over 7.52 pct  higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

By John Mathews – Arab Times Staff

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