Kuwaiti stock market extends gains, volume turnover drops

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait stocks pushed higher on Wednesday extending the gains to fourth straight session. The All Shares Index climbed 43.95 points to 5689.49 pts led by blue chips even as the overall mood remained positive. The Premier Market rallied 53.16 points to 6325.17 pts taking the month’s gains to 305 points while Main Market scaled 25.19 pts.

The BK 50 Main Index paced 39.88 points to close at 4480.67 points. The volume turnover meanwhile ebbed following last session’s modest rebound. Over 374 million shares changed hands – down 5 pct from the day before. The sectors closed mixed. Telecommunications outshone the rest with 1.59 percent gain whereas Technology shed 3.45 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 113.3 million shares while Banking sector was ahead in value with over KD 39 million. Among the notable gainers, Kuwait Finance House rallied 6 fils to 699 fils on back of 15.8 million shares taking the month’s gains to 38 fils while sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rose 4 fils to 898 fils after pushing 8.5 million shares. National Investment Co was up 4 fils at 142 fils and Kuwait Investment Co gained 5 fils with a volume of 2.6 million.

Zain extended Tuesday’s gains with 11 fils jump to 608 fils after moving 9.8 million shares and Ooredoo paced 9 fils. STC dialed up 1 fil to end at 841 fils and Agility sprinted 13 fils to 700 fils on back of over 7 million shares. Humansoft Holding gave up 12 fils while Boursa was up 4 fils at KD 1.160. KIPCO added 3 fils and KAMCO inched 1.8 fils up to 77 fils. The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index turned flattish for about an hour and pulled further up amid buying in some of the counters. It moved sideways thereafterand closed with moderate gains. Top gainer of the day, Al Ahli Bank rallied 6 fils to 212 fils and Gulf Cement Co paced 5.9 pct to stand next. Energy Holding skidded 9.3 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding topped the volume with 33.7 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 68 stocks advanced whereas 44 closed lower. Of the 127 counters active on Wednesday, 15 closed flat. 15,958 deals worth KD 71.2 million were transacted during the session. National Industries Group inched 1 fil higher to 179 fils on back of 9.7 million shares while Mezzan Holding gave up 10 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co scaled 5 fils while Al Qurain Petrochemical Co rose 4 fils to 293 fils on back of over 2 million shares. Integrated Holding gained 8 fils and Aznoula dialed up 1 fil after pushing 2.4 million shares. Jazeera Airways fell 2 fils to 588 fils and ALAFCO took in 2 fils after pushing 2.9 million shares. OSOS added 3.7 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts trimmed 0.6 fil after moving over 2 million shares. Mashaer Holding took in 1.7 fils and Thuraya fell 2.9 fils to 69 fils.

Oula Fuel clipped 1 fil and Soor stood pat at 111 fils. Kuwait Cement Co rallied 6 fils to 225 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement scaled 12 fils to end at 788 fils. ACICO Industries paced 3 fils whereas NICBM and Burgan Well Drilling Co paused at 155 fils and 75 fils respectively. Warbcap dialed down 2 fils and Kuwait Hotels trimmed 0.7 fil with thin trading. Kuwait Foundry Co rose 2 fils to 264 fils amd Gulf Cable erased 2 fils. Metal and Recycling Co eased 1.7 fils to 39. 2 fils and Educational Holding Co slipped 5 fils to 300 fils. Automated Systems Co gave up 2.5 fils and Gulf Petroleum Investment inched 0.7 fil up on back of 21.5 million shares. KCPC was flat at 310 fils and KPPC tripped 0.4 fils. In the banking sector, Gulf Bank rose 4 fils to 237 fils on back of 11.8 million shares and Kuwait International Bank sprinted 12 fils with heavy trading. Borgan Bank gained 3 fils and Boubyan Bank took in 1 fil. Warba Bank added 4 fils after pushing 13.2 million shares.