Kuwait bourse wraps up week on cheery note

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NBK rallies 23 fils, Humansoft Holding skids

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 17: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Thursday following last session’s small pullback to wind up the week on a cheery note. The All Shares Index rebounded 58.04 points to 5,642.38 pts powered by National Bank of Kuwait and some of the other blue chips. The Premier Market galloped 74.74 points to 6,176 pts while Main Market scaled 23.79 points. The BK 50 Main index was up 4.48 pts at 4,664.56 points.

The volume turnover meanwhile soared past the 300 million mark to hit week’s highest level. 307 million shares changed hands – a 29 pct surge from the day before. The sectors closed mostly in green turf. Insurance outshone the rest with 4 pct jump whereas Consumer Goods shed 1.99 percent, the worst performer of the day. Banking sector topped in both volume and value with 126 million shares traded for KD 74.69 million.

Among the prime movers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rallied 23 fils to 861 fils with brisk trading while Kuwait Finance House added 3 fils on back of 18.3 million shares. Gulf Insurance Co sprinted 36 fils while Ahleia Insurance Co jumped 25 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co darted 29 fils to 789 fils. Zain rallied 17 fils on back of 20.8 million shares to 627 fils while Ooredoo rose 3 fils to 626 fils. stc gave up 5 fils before ending at 855 fils and Agility eased 1 fil to 682 fils after pushing over 6 million shares.

Dipped
Humansoft Holding dipped 41 fils to KD 3.648 and Boursa fell 4 fils. KIPCO and Noor Financial Investment Co took in 1 fil each while KAMCO inched 0.1 fils higher to 74.5 fils. NAPESCO was down 23 fils at KD 1.137. The market opened on a quite note and moved higher in early trade. The main index continued to advance half way into the session driven by sustained buying in some of the counters and drifted sideways. However it spiked in the final minutes to close with impressive gains. Top gainer of the day, Al Rai Media Group soared 18.48 pct to 50 fils while Hilal Cement Co scaled 10 percent. Burgan Well Drilling Co skidded 7.65 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and National Bank of Kuwait topped the volume with 56.4 million shares. Despite the day’s gains, the market spread was almost even. 68 stocks advanced whereas 64 closed lower. Of the 148 counters active on Thursday, 16 closed fl at. 9,201 deals worth KD 107.24 million were transacted during the session. National Industries Group inched 1 fils higher to 183 fils on back of 3.4 million shares and Mezzan Holding tripped 1 fil. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 4 fils to 608 fils while Al Qurain Petrochemical Co and Aznoula eased 1 fil each. Integrated Holding took in 1 fil after trading over 1 million shares.

Rose
Jazeera Airways rose 3 fils to 732 fils while ALAFCO dialed up 2 fils after moving 3.6 million shares. OSOS and UPAC took in 1 fil each while PAPCO added 1.6 fils. Inovest clipped 1.9 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts edged 0.8 fil into red. Oula Fuel and Combined Group Contracting Co took in 1 fil each whereas Mashaer Holding stood pat at 58.8 fils. Kuwait Cement Co climbed 10 fils to 239 fl s whereas Kuwait Portland Cement shed dialed down 2 fils. Hilal Cement Co climbed 10 fils to 110 fils and Shuaiba Industrial gained 4 fils. Metal and Recycling Co and NICBM paused at 43.8 fils and 156 fils respectively while ACICO Industries gave up 2 fils. QIC rose 5.4 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co slipped 7 fils to 273 fils and Gulf Cable dialed up 2 fils. Al Kout Industries soared 49 fils with razor thin trading whereas Educational Holding Co climbed 14 fils to 344 fils. Independent Petroleum Group dropped 10 fils to 480 fils. Automated Systems Co trimmed 0.7 fil and KCPC closed 2 fils in red. In the banking sector, Gulf Bank took in 2 fils on back of 25.8 million shares whereas Warba Bank clipped 1 fil. Burgan Bank, Kuwait International Bank, Boubyan Bank and Ahli United Bank added 2 fils each whereas Al Ahli Bank dialed down 2 fils. The was largely upbeat during the week. The main index closed higher in three of the five sessions, gaining 83 points week-on-week. It has scaled 184 points from start of the month but is down 640 points yearto- date.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

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