Kuwait edges higher, volume little changed

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Humansoft climbs 38 fils

KUWAIT CITY, July 6: Kuwait stocks edged up on Monday extending last session’s modest gains. The All Shares Index, after getting off to a wobbly start, rose 3 pts to 5,145.35 points even as the overall mood remained muted. The Premier Market crept 3 points higher to 5627 pts while Main Market inched 2.8 points up to 4,193.3 points.

The BK 50 Main climbed 8.65 pts to 4,188.25 points. The volume turnover meanwhile was little changed. Over 104 million shares changed hands – up 1 pct from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Insurance outshone the rest with 0.83 percent gain whereas Consumer Goods shed 0.65 percent, the worst performer of the day. Banking sector continued to dominate in both volume and value with 44.7 million shares traded for KD 14.5 million. In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait was unchanged at 823 fils after trading 5.6 million shares and Kuwait Finance House too did not budge from its earlier close of 611 fils with 5.69 million shares. Boubyan Bank took in 2 fils to close at 538 fils. Zain dialed up 2 fils on back of 1.3 million shares to close at 563 fils while Ooredoo stood pat at 655 fils off early lows. STC climbed 13 fils to 860 fils after posting 13 fils gain during whole of June while Agility took in 2 fils to end at 740 fils.

Humansoft Holding jumped 38 fils to KD 2.857 while KIPCO clipped 2 fils after pushing over 1 million shares. The market opened fl at and slipped into red in early trade.

The main index continued to erode and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5111 pts half way into the session. It clawed back in the second half amid fresh buying in select counters and closed with slight gains. Top gainer of the day, Warba Insurance Co climbed 7.87 pct to 80.9 fils while National Ranges Co paced 5.26 pct to stand next.

Osoul skidded 11.43 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with 18.5 million shares. Despite the day’s gains, the losers outnumbered the winners. 38 stocks advanced whereas 50 closed lower. Of the 109 counters active on Monday, 21 closed fl at. 5334 deals worth KD 20.5 million were transacted during the session. National Industries Group fell 2 fils to 164 fils after pushing 2.3 million shares while Mezzan Holding gave up 4 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dialed up 2 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical trimmed 2 fils before settling at 275 fils. Integrated Holding was down 3 fils at 416 fils.

Jazeera Airways rose 3 fils to 660 fils extending last session’s gains while ALAFCO dialed up 2 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co eased 1.4 fils to 48.1 fils and KGL Logistics paused at 27.4 fils. Educational Holding Group was flat at 309 fils and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 365 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co was unchanged at 182 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement slipped 5 fils to 785 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co paused at 180 fils and OSOS gave up 2.8 fils. Gulf Cable sprinted 6 fils to 584 fils and Kuwait Foundry Co took in 2 fils. KCPC clipped 1 fil and Soor Fuel was unchanged at 109 fils. Gulf Bank eased 1 fil to 213 fils after pushing over 7 million shares and Kuwait International Bank followed suit. Burgan Bank took in 1 fils whereas Ahli United Bank and Warba Bank stood pat at 180 fils and 206 fils respectively.

The market has been positive so far during the week adding 21 points in the last two sessions. It has gained 15 points from start of the month and is down 1,136 points year-to-date.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

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