Kuwait Mkt Extends Gains To Fourth Day

08/04/2014 08:22 AST

Kuwait stocks closed higher Monday extending the gains to fourth straight session. The price index climbed 16.73 pts to 7599.95 points in lackluster trading helped by moderate gains by banks. Some of the other blue chips too nudged higher even as the sentiment remained cautious. The KSX 15 benchmark rallied 9.58 points to hit a fresh high of 1228.47 pts and taking the month’s gain to 53 points while weighted index rose 4.82 points. The volume turnover meanwhile slipped for the fourth straight session. 187.28 million shares changed hands — a 3.95 pct fall from Sunday. Unlike the regional peers, KSE has been trending listlessly in recent weeks as the surge in large caps has been offset by slump in small caps.

The sectors closed mostly in the positive territory. Banks outshone the peers with 1.32 pct upswing whereas consumer services eased 0.11 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, financial services saw brisk trading and accounted for a market share of over 50 percent while real estate and banks followed with 21.22 pct and 10.37 percent respectively. Among the notable movers, Commercial Bank rallied 50 fils as investors continue to pile on the stock following the lender’s decision to turn into a Islamic bank. National Bank of Kuwait climbed 10 fils on back of 2.76 million shares and Kuwait Finance House followed suit to close at KD 0.890

Kuwait Food Co ( Americana) rose 20 fils to KD 2.680 taking the month’s gain to 140 fils while National Industries Group was up 10 fils on back of 6.44 million shares. United Projects Co and Gulf Cables too added 10 fils each and Jazeera Airways nudged 5 fils to wind up at KD 0.465. Telecom major Zain was unchanged at KD 0.700 off early lows and the counter saw 3.7 million shares change hands while Wataniya Telecom gained 20 fils to close at KD 1.920 . Agility rose 20 fils on back of 8.88 million shares taking the year-to-date gains to 120 fils.

Arab Times