Boursa jumps 26 fils, Zain close flat

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 22: Kuwait stocks plodded higher on Sunday after eking modest gains in the previous week. The All Shares Index rose 13.66 pts in choppy trade to 5,540.57 points even as the overall mood remained cautiously positive.

The Premium Market rose 14.31 pts to 6,133 points while Main Market added 12.45 pts. The BK 50 Main index was up 19.36 points at 4,482 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile hit the month’s lowest level during the session. Over 111 million shares changed hands – a 29 percent drop from Thursday. The sectors closed mixed. Real Estate outshone the rest with 0.83 pct gain whereas Oil and Gas shed 1.31 percent, the worst performer of the day. Banking sector dominated in both volume and value with 36.2 million shares traded for KD 17.28 million.

Among the notable gainers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rose 4 fils to 829 fils on back of 6.3 million shares and Boubyan Bank scaled 4 fils before settling at 628 fils. Mabanee Co was up 8 fils at 658 fils while Boursa soared 26 fils to KD 1.123. Zain was unchanged at 625 fils after trading 3.4 million shares while Ooredoo eased 0.5 fil to 624 fils. stc stood pat at 880 fils after vacillating narrowly earlier in the session and logistics major Agility dialed up 2 fils on back of 2.3 million shares. KIPCO and Kuwait Investment Co paused at 154 fils and 121 fils respectively whereas KAMCO ticked 0.6 fil into green. Humansoft Holding shed 17 fils. The market up in early trade but failed to hold on to the gains.

The main index retreated into red and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,522 pts before heading north. It bobbed between small gains and losses and revved up in the final minutes to close in the green turf. Top gainer of the day, Masaken darted 10.8 pct to 23.6 fils and UPAC climbed 9.5 pct to stand next. Shuaiba Industrial skidded 8.9 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Finance House topped the volume with 9.4 million shares. Mirroring the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 58 stocks advanced whereas 46 closed lower.

Of the 124 counters active on Sunday, 20 closed fl at. 6,945 deals worth KD 30 million were transacted during the session. National Industries Group was unchanged at 182 fils with a volume of 1.8 million whereas Mezzan Holding clipped 2 fils.

Boubyan Petrochemical Co gave up 5 fils while Al Qurain held ground at 296 fils. Integrated Holding was up 4 fils at 377 fils and Aznoula closed fl at at 320 fils after pushing 1.8 million shares. Jazeera Airways was unchanged at 621 fils while ALAFCO took in 1 fil on back of 1.8 million shares. YIACO slipped 8 fils to 123 fils and Al Rai Media Group closed 2.4 fils down with thin trading. Soor was fl at at 121 fils while Oula Fuel inched 1 fil higher to 123 fils. Mashaer Holding clipped 2.7 fils.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff