Kuwait gains in choppy session, volume swells–Americana climbs 18 fils

13/07/2017 05:51 AST

Kuwait stocks headed north on Tuesday as it continued its advance to sixth straight session . The price index climbed 30.08 points in choppy trade to 6,778.62 pts amid fresh buying in select counters. The telecoms shone while banking shares eked modest gains.

The KSX 15 benchmark jumped 9.28 pts to 923.22 points taking the month’s gains to 13 points while weighted index was up 4.1 points at 404.91 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose further to hit a fresh 6-week high. 99.5 million shares changed hands — a 13 pct rise from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Telecommunications outshone the rest with 3.2 pct gain whereas parallel market dropped 2.9 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, real estate garnered the highest market share of 34.6 percent while financial services stood next with 32.56 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, KIPCO climbed 17 fils to 350 fils and Kuwait Finance House rallied 6 fils to 493 fils on back of 3 million shares. Mabanee Co gained 10 fils to close at 770 fils and Kuwait Food Co (Americana) powered 18 fils higher.

Zain rose 20 fils to 437 fils on back of 7.6 million shares adding to last session’s modest gains while Ooredoo soared 65 fils to KD 1.165. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) climbed 25 fils to 822 fils and Agility was up 15 fils at 795 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait inched 1 fil higher after trading over 2 million shares and Warba Bank added 3 fils. The bank has posted a 296.3% jump in its profits to KD 1.3 million in 2017 Q1 as compared to the same period last year.

The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index pulled back sharply to plumb the day’s lowest level of 6,740.56 pts and headed north thereafter. It continued to climb in choppy trade before revving up in the final minutes to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, Warba Insurance Co soared 20 pct to 86.4 fils while Ajwan climbed 19.5 pct to stand close behind. Energy Holding Co dived 8.4 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with 14.7 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s upswing, the market spread was heavily skewed towards winners. 71 stocks advanced whereas 27 closed lower. Of the 120 counters active on Tuesday, 22 closed flat. 3,539 deals worth KD 15.78 million were transacted — a 14.8 pct jump in value from the day before.

National Industries Group fell 2 fils to 123 fils and Gulf Cable was down 11 fils at 419 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co was unchanged at 560 fils while Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gained 8 fils. Metal and Recycling Co was down 7 fils at 80 fils.

Jazeera Airways inched 1 fil up to 476 fils and ALAFCO followed suit.. ACICO rose 9 fils to 260 fils with thin trading. Kuwait Cable Vision Co eased 0.1 fil.

Slipped

Kuwait Foundry Co slipped 7 fils to 258 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement Co climbed 20 fils to 920 fils. NICBM and Equipment Holding Co took in 1 fil each to wind up at 185 fils and 51 fils respectively.

Combined Group Contracting Co fell 1 fil to 618 fils while Humansoft Holding and KCPC paused at KD 4.260 and 165 fils respectively. Eyas For Higher and Technical Education dialed up 1 fil.

Burgan Well Drilling Co dipped 7 fils to 82 fils and Yiaco jumped 20 fils with razor thin trading. Zimah Holding added 1.5 fils and Mezzan Holding took in 2 fils to close at 942 fils.

Educational Holding Group climbed 11 fils to 360 fils and Al Rai Media Group closed flat. Gulf Finance Co rose 10 fils to 70 fils.

In the banking sector, Commercial Bank inched 1 fil up whereas Al Ahli Bank stood pat at 327 fils. Al Mutahed gave up 5 fils to end at 398 fils partly reversing last session’s gains and Gulf Bank rose 5 fils to 244 fils.

Burgan Bank rose 3 fils to 333 fils whereas Kuwait International Bank held ground at 249 fils

Arab Times