Boursa climbs 13 fils, Humansoft Holding skids

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 10: Kuwait stocks eked modest gains on Thursday to end the week on positive note. The All Shares Index, after a wobbly start, climbed 10.89 pts to 5,559.90 points helped by some of the blue chips and mid-caps.

The Premier Market fell 3.7 pts to 6,097.90 points trimming the month’s gains to 89 pts while Main Market scaled 41.37 points. The BK 50 Main index gained 25 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile dropped for the second straight session. Over 208 million shares changed hands – down 19 percent from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Financial Services outpaced the rest with 2 percent gain whereas Banking sector shed 0.11 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 87.3 million shares whereas Banking sector continued to dominate with KD 14.5 million. In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait dialed up 2 fils to close at 846 fils on back of 5.7 million shares while Kuwait Finance House clipped 2 fils before settling at 678 fils. Mabanee Co fell 3 fils to 671 fils paring the month’s gains to 47 fils while Humansoft Holding skidded 85 fils. Zain eased 1 fil to 608 fils after pushing 4.4 million shares while Ooredoo took in 1 fil. stc added 3 fils before ending at 859 fils and Agility stood pat at 678 fils with a volume of 2.4 million shares. KIPCO edged 1 fil higher to 155 fils whereas KAMCO paused at 74 fils. National Investment Co and Noor Financial Investment Co added 1fil each whereas Boursa gained 13 fils.

The market opened on weak and slipped into red in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,080 points and headed north amid fresh buying in some of the counters. It peaked at 6,109 pts ahead of the mid-session and moved sideways thereafter to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, Bareeq soared 28.2 pct to 40 fils while Burgan Well Drilling Co scaled 12.8 percent to stand next. Kuwait Hotels slipped 4.9 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Arzan topped the volume with 40.7 million shares. Refl ecting the day’s gains, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the winners.

70 stocks advanced whereas 29 closed lower. Of the 126 counters active on Thursday, 27 closed fl at. 9,439 deals worth KD 36.8 million were transacted during the session. National Industries Group dialed up 2 fils on back of 2.9 million shares to close at 189 fils while Mezzan Holding was up 6 fils at 613 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co added 3 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co climbed 6 fils to 342 fils after moving 1.5 million shares. Al Kout Holding galloped 33 fils and Kuwait Gulf Links Transport Co closed fl at at 51 fils. Jazeera Airways paced 12 fils before ending at 725 fils while ALAFCO rallied 15 fils on back of over 14 million shares. EK Holding sprinted 34 fils with razor thin trading and Inovest was up 3.9 fils at 69.9 fils. Oula Fuel and Soor were fl at at 121 fils at 122 fils respectively wherea Al Rai Media Group tripped 1 fils. Kuwait Cement Co was unchanged at 228 fils while Kuwait Portland Cement added 5 fils to close at 776 fils. Gulf Cement Co took in 1 fil and QIC dialed up 2 fils before ending at 74 fils, ACICO Industries trimmed 0.9 fil and NICBM closed 2 fils in green. Educational Holding and Independent Petroleum Group stood oat at 349 fils and 490 fils respectively. Kuwait Foundry Co inched 1 fil up to 265 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co gained 12 fils. KCPC climbed 13 fils to 363 fils and KPPC trimmed 0.9 fil. PAPCO rose 4.7 fils to 70 fils and UPAC gained 13 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co added 3 fils while Gulf Cable scaled 13 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank clipped 2 fils after pushing 6.3 million shares whereas Kuwait International Bank and Burgan Bank dialed up 1 fil each. Boubyan Bank eased 1 fil to 573 fils while Warba Bank gained 4 fils. Ahli United Bank gave up 2 fils. The market was mixed during the week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions adding 17 points week-on-week. It has climbed 100 points from start of the month but is down 723 points year-to-date.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff