KUWAIT CITY, Dec 24: Kuwait stocks edged lower on Thursday to end the week on dour note. The All Shares Index fell 3.44 points in choppy trade to 5,569.39 pts even as the overall mood remained turned negative. The Premier Market slipped 5.96 pts to 6,088.43 points while Main Market ticked 1.78 pts higher. The BK 50 Main index was down 9.51 pts at 4,617.81 points.

The volume turnover meanwhile receded after last session’s uptick. Over 161 million shares changed hands – down 13 pct from the day before. The sectors closed mixed. Insurance outshone the rest with 1.9 percent gain whereas Consumer Goods shed 0.68 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, Financial Services topped with 78.83 million shares while Banks dominated in value with KD 8.2 million.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait was unchanged at 847 fils after pushing 1.66 million shares while Kuwait Finance House clipped 1 fil lower to 679 fils with a volume of 2.5 million. Mabanee Co dialed up 2 fils while Humansoft Holding Co soared 92 fils to KD 3.798. YIACO galloped 69 fils to 765 fils with thin trading. Zain slipped 4 fils to 609 fils after pushing 4.8 million shares while Ooredoo gave up 7 fils. stc eased 1 fil to 852 fils whereas Agility took in 1 fil to end at 676 fils. Boursa dialed down 2 fils and UPAC jumped 37 fils to 335 fils. KIPCO was unchanged at 154 fils while KAMCO eased 0.4 fil to 73 fils. National Investment Co tripped 1 fil after pushing 1.2 million shares whereas Kuwait Investment Co and Bayan Investment Co stood pat at 123 fils and 38.6 fils respectively. Noor Financial Investment Co and KMEFIC dialed up 2 fils each while Kuwait Insurance Co slipped 6 fils. Gulf Insurance Co scaled 41 fils to 760 fils and Ahleia Insurance Co gained 15 fils. The market opened firm and ticked up in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 5,579 points and headed south as sentiment flipped to sell side. It continued to drift lower and bottomed at 5,559 points well past the mid-session before clawing back most of the losses in the final hour. Top gainer of the day, UPAC sprinted 12.42 pct to 335 fils and YIACO scaled 9.9 percent to stand next. KSHC shed 11.18 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with 24.77 million shares. Reflecting the day’s drop, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the losers. 33 stocks advanced whereas 65 closed lower.

Of the 121 counters active on Thursday, 23 closed flat. 6,845 deals worth KD 24.66 million were transacted during the session. National Industries Group was unchanged at 182 fils with a volume of 1.2 million shares whereas Mezzan Holding gave up 5 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 5 fils to 627 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co took in 1 fils. Integrated Holding Co clipped 2 fils and Aznoula paused at 276 fils. Jazeera Airways was unchanged a 700 fils whereas ALAFCO clipped 2 fils after moving over 5 million shares and Combined Group Contracting Co followed suit. Mashaer tripped 2.9 fils while Burgan Well Drilling Co eased1 fils to 164 fils. Soor was flat at 121 fils and Oula Fuel ticked 1 fil higher to 123 fils. Kuwait Cement Co edged 1 fil higher to 232 fils whereas Kuwait Cement Co slipped 4 fils. Metal and Recycling Co held ground at 43.8 fils and Shuaiba Industrial shed 9 fils.

ACICO Industries tripped 0.3 fil while NICBM and QIC clipped 2 fils each to end at 153 fils and 74 fils each. Kuwait Foundry Co shed 15 fils and Gulf Cable dialed down 2 fils before ending at 764 fils. KCPC scaled 18 fils and KPPC paused at 40 fils. Salbookh Trading closed 1 fil in green. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.5 fil. IFA Hotels and Resorts inched 0.2 fil up to 19.4 fils. In the banking sector Gulf Bank was unchanged at 218 fils after moving 5.9 million shares and Kuwait International Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of 209 fils. Burgan Bank dialed down 2 fils whereas Boubyan Bank and Warba Bank paused at 572 fils and 237 fils respectively. Ahli United Bank eased 1 fil to 234 fils. The market was largely downbeat during the week. The main index closed lower in four of the five sessions, shedding 73 pts week-on-week. It has scaled 118 points from start of the month but is down 714 points year-to-date.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff