Kuwait bourse tanks by over 9%, biggest ever single day fall

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KUWAIT CITY, March 1: Kuwait stocks went into a tailspin on Sunday as it suffered its biggest ever single day drop of 9.15 percent. The All Shares Index tumbled 556.19 points in a broad decline to 5,515.86 points, as sharp losses occurred across global and regional markets amid fears of coronavirus outbreak roiling trading floor sentiments.

Kuwait stocks went into a tailspin on Sunday as it kicked off the month on a markedly bearish note. The All Shares Index tumbled 556.19 pts in a broad decline to 5,515.86 , the biggest ever single day drop, as sharp losses in global and regional markets amid fears of coronavirus outbreak roiled the trading floor sentiment.

The Premier Market, after tanking 739.16 pts to 5,991.02 points was suspended 30 minutes into session as the fall exceeded the 10 pct limit while Main Market dived 190.15 pts to 4,579.18 points.

The volume turnover meanwhile shrank sharply as investors toed caution. Over 143 million shares changed hands – a 33 pct drop from the last session. All sectors closed in red. Banks suffered the most with a 11 pct plunge while Oil and Gas saw the smallest fall of 1.17 percent.

Volume wise, Financial Services topped the volume with 51.8 million while in value, Banking sector dominated with KD 3.49 million. Among the prominent losers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait plummeted 147 fils to 866 fils taking the year’s losses to 204 fils while Kuwait Finance House sank 79 fils to 715 fils after trading over 2 million shares. Mabanee Co dived 84 fils to 765 fils and Humansoft Holding plunged 140 fils.

Zain dipped 54 fils to 506 fils taking the year’s losses to 94 fils and Ooredoo was down 15 fils at 749 fils. STC shed 37 fils and logistics major Agility slid 79 fils to 716 fils. The market opened on a shaky note and fell sharply 30 minutes into trading as sentiment turned bearish amid negative cue from regional and global markets . The index drifted sideways thereafter and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,509 pts before paring back some of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Bayan Investment climbed 8.1 pct to 40 fils and Warba Insurance Co rose 4.8 percent to stand next. KAMCO skidded 17.8 percent, the steepest decliner of the day while Abyaar topped the volume with 16.8 million shares. Reflecting the day’s plunge, the market spread was almost totally skewed towards the losers.

7 stocks advanced whereas 117 closed lower. Of the 128 counters active on Sunday, 4 closed flat. 4,992 deals worth KD 10.23 million were transacted. National Industries Group dipped 22 fils to 207 fils while Mezzan Holding extended last session’s losses with a 25 fils drop to 450 fils.

Boubyan Petrochemical Co slipped 11 fils to 620 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was down 13 fils at 259 fils. Jazeera Airways skidded 117 fils to 888 fils taking the year’s losses to 211 fils while ALAFCO dropped 22 fils to 239 fils.

Oula Fuel slipped 8 fils to 119 fils and Soor gave up 4 fils to close at 121 fils. SPEC trimmed 0.9 fil and Thuraya ended 3.7 fils in red. Kuwait Cement Co fell 7 fils to 205 fils while Kuwait Portland Cement shed 35 fils. Hilal Cement Co was unchanged at 100 fils and ACICO Industries ended 3 fils lower at 117 fils. Gulf Cement Co erased 4.9 fils and Fujairah Cement inched 0.4 fil into green. Kuwait Foundry Co dived 33 fils to 297 fils and Gulf Cable shed 40 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co dropped 21 fils and Equipment Holding trimmed 0.9 fil.

Salbookh eased 1.6 fils to 44 fils and Warbacap closed 2.1 fils in red. Kuwait National Cinema Co slid 79 fils to 800 fils and Educational Holding shed 40 fils before settling at 315 fils. Sultan Centre gave up 3.5 fils and AAN tripped 1.5 fils after trading 8.9 million shares. Sultan Centre fell 3.5 fils to 49 fils and the counter saw over 1 million shares change hands. Combined Group Contracting Co dipped 28 fils to 212 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts erased 8.2 fils. KCPC slipped 19 fils to 263 fils and KPPC clipped 1.2 fils. Mashaer Holding fell 3.4 fils to 69.1 fils and FutureKid was down 9 fils at 100 fils.

OSOS bucked the trend to rise 4 fils to 117 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links slipped 6.9 fls to 61.3 fils and KGL Logistics gave up 3.3 fils after trading 3.9 million shares. Energy Holding clipped 2.4 fils and Safat Energy gave up 2.3 fls before settling at 19.4 fils. Gulf Petroleum Investment tripped 1.9 fils and NICBM dialed down 2 fils. In the banking sector, Gulf Bank dived 28 fils to 257 fils while Kuwait International Bank slid 27 fils. Burgan Bank dropped 16 fils to 276 fils and Boubyan Bank skidded 63 fils to 574 fils. Commercial Bank was flat at 500 fils while Al Ahli Bank was down 11 fils at 249 fils. Warba Bank dived 23 fils to 246 fils and Ahli United Bank skidded 46 fils after trading 1.4 million shares.

Al Mutahed was down 19 fils at 316 fils. KIPCO slipped 6 fils to 200 fils and Kuwait Investment Co was down 9 fils at 145 fils with a volume of 2.5 million. FACIL slipped 10 fils to 200 fils and International Financial Advisors gave up 9.3 fils. Coast Investment Co and Arzan fell 3.5 fils each while Securities House clipped 2.5 fils. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) dropped 8.9 fils to 100.1 fils after trading 1.2 million shares and KMEFIC erased 1.5 fils. ALOLA gave up 3.6 fils with a volume of 9.7 million and Al Aman closed 3.3 fils in red. GIH slipped 5.5 fils to 52.9 fils and Al Mal Capital dialed down 1.3 fils.

KAMCO slid 18 fils to 86.3 fils and KFIC dialed down 1 fil. Osoul stood pat at 82 fils and Aayan closed 4.4 flls lower at 42 fils after trading over 5 million shares. KMEFIC gave up 1.5 fils and KFIC eased 1 fil to 47 fils. NIH closed 5 fils down at 76 fils. Unicap slipped 4.9 fils to 44.1 fils and Madar dropped 7.5 fils to 94.5 fils.

Sokouk Holding and Al Madina fell 2 fils each while Ektittab Holding closed 2.3 fils in red. Noor Financial Centre shed 19 fils and Tamdeen Investment dived 33 fils to 267 fils. Asiya ended 2 fils lower at 36 fils. Gulf Insurance dropped 15 fils and Ahleia Insurance was down 10 fils at 420 fils. The market was downbeat during the last holiday shortened week. The main index closed lower in both the sessions falling 116 points weekon-week. It had tumbled 252 pts during the whole of February and is trading 210 pts down year-todate

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

This news has been read 17182 times!

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