KUWAIT CITY, Nov 19: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Thursday to wrap up the week on a buoyant note. The All Shares Index galloped 45.14 pts to 5526.91 points extending its gains to fourth straight session.

The Premier Market rallied 55.54 points to 6118.79 pts while Main Market climbed 23.88 points. The BK 50 Main index was up 26.84 pts at 4462.70 points.

The volume turnover meanwhile saw a modest rebound following the six-day retreat. Over 157 million shares changed hands – a 5.3 pct rise from the day before. All sectors, barring one, closed in green turf. Technology outshone the rest with 5.74 pct gain whereas Health Care, the only loser, inched 0.01 pct into red. Banking sector continued to top in both volume and value with over 66 million shares traded for KD 31.7 million.

Among the standout performers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rose 5 fils to 825 fils with brisk trading while Kuwait Finance House scaled 7 fils with a volume of 9.8 million taking the month’s gains to 25 fils. Boubyan Bank rallied 9 fils to 624 fils and Humansoft Holding swung 22 fils up to KD 3.217. Zain darted 12 fils to 625 fils on back of 11.8 million shares extending Wednesday’s gains while Ooredoo eased 1 fil to 619 fils. stc dialed up 2 fils and Agility sprinted 5 fils to 668 fils after pushing 3.4 million shares.

Boursa stood pat at KD 1.097 after vacillating earlier in the session while KIPCO eased 1 fil to 154 fils. The market opened on a tame note and headed higher in early trade. The main index continued to climb amid a broad bout of buying and scaled the day’s highest level of 5532 points past the mid-session. It pared back some of the gains in the final minutes before closing with moderate gains.

Top gainer of the day, Burgan Well Drilling Co spiked 39.11 pct to 106 fils while Shuaiba Industrials scaled 9.87 pct to stand next. Equipment Holding Co skidded 10.32 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and National Bank of Kuwait topped the volume with over 18 million shares. Reflecting the day’s gains, the market spread was skewed towards the winners. 66 stocks advanced whereas 38 closed lower. Of the 121 counters active on Thursday, 17 closed flat. 12,267 deals worth KD 53.93 million were transacted during the session. National Industries Group was unchanged at 182 fils after moving 182 fils while Mezzan Holding tripped 1 fil before settling at 613 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gained 10 fils while Al Qurain Petrochemical Co took in 1 fil on back of over 1 million shares. Integrated Holding Co and Aznoula too added 1 fil each to close at 373 fils and 320 fils respectively.

Jazeera Airways rose 4 fils to 621 fils on back of over 1 million shares and ALAFCO ticked 1 fil up to 168 fils after pushing over 3 million shares. Advanced Technology Co and Mashaer Holding were flat at 570 fils and 59 fils respectively whereas YIACO clipped 2 fils. Soor took in 1 fil and Oula dialed down 2 fils before ending at 122 fils. Kuwait Cement Co was flat at 227 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement gained 5 fils with thin trading. Gulf Cement Co trimmed 0.8 fil and Fujairah Cement tripped 0.4 fil to end at 33 fils. ACICO Industries erased 2.3 fils and NICBM inched 1 fil higher to 154 fils. Al Rai Media Group edged 0.5 fil up to 49.5 fils and EK Holding took in 1 fil. Kuwait Foundry Co fell 2 fils to 262 fils while Gulf Cable scaled 11 fils before ending at 751 fils. Shuaiba Industrial jumped 15 fils to 167 fils with razor thin trading while Kuwait Hotels ticked 0.4 fil higher.

Safat Energy eased 0.3 fil to 16.8 fils and Independent Petroleum Group closed flat at 470 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co dialed down 1 fil while Automated Systems Co added 3.8 fils. KPPC closed 1.5 fils higher at 42.5 fils and KCPC took in 2 fils. Sultan Centre moved 2 fils into green while Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co gained 1.5 fils. In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Burgan Bank were unchanged at 223 fils and 208 fils respectively whereas Kuwait International Bank dialed up 2 fils.

Ahli United Bank added 3 fils with heavy trading and Warba Bank inched 1 fil up. The market was largely upbeat during the week. The main index closed higher in four of the five sessions adding 12 points week-onweek. It has scaled 104 points from start of the month but is down 756 points year-to-date.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff