Kuwait market tanks as new virus fears rattle investors

Kuwait stocks swooned Sunday, tracking the slide in regional peers, as fears over new virus variant spooked the investors. The All Stocks Index dived 199.47 points to 6,928.74 pts in a broad decline, the biggest single day drop since March 2020. The Premier Market saw a brutal flooring as it tumbled 207.17 pts to 7,512.80 points while Main Market sank 188.08 pts. The BK Main 50 plunged 205.48 points to 5,957.22 pts.

The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded past the 400 million mark following the two-day drop. Over 443 million shares changed hands – a 102 pct jump from Thursday. All sectors closed in the red turf. Consumer Derivatives plummeted 5.54 percent, the worst performer of the day while Real Estate dipped 4.62 percent, the second biggest loser. Financial Services topped the volume with 208.39 million and Banking sector was ahead in value with KD 35.63 million. Among the prominent losers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait slid 22 fils to 995 fils after pushing 5.4 million shares and Kuwait Finance House dived 20 fils to 814 fils with brisk trading .

National Investment Co slumped 14 fils to 217 fils with a volume of 32.34 million while Mabnee Co shed plunged 23 fils. Humansoft Holding sank 30 fils to KD 3.220 and Jazeera Airways tumbled 80 fils. Zain fell 7 fils to 583 fils and Ooredoo was down 13 fils at 652 fils. stc slipped 5 fils to 855 fils while logistics major Agility dived 49 fils to 948 fils after pushing over 6 million shares.. KIPCO dropped 6 fils to 145 fils while Boursa Kuwait Securities slid 28 fils. Noor Financial Investment and Aayan Leasing shed 10 fils each and Mezzan Holding slipped 4 fils to 598 fils. National Industries Group dipped 14 fils to 265 fils with a volume of 8.6 million shares and Gulf Cable tanked 41 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co slid 35 fils to 865 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gave up 4 fils. Integrated Holding slipped 9 fils to 376 fils and Aznour closed 5 fils in red. ALAFCO dropped 14 fils. The market opened gap down and fell sharply in early trade.

The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,861 points before pivoting north amid buying spurt at low levels. It peaked at 6,987 points and drifted lower as sentiment turned soggy before closing with steep loss. Top gainer of the day, Amar Finance rose 2.71 percent to 71.9 fils andAamar Finance added 1 pct to stand next. Jiyad tumbled 17.19 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and GFH topped the volume with 77 million shares. Reflecting the day’s slide, the market spread almost totally skewed towards the losers. 3 stocks advanced whereas 138 closed lower. Of the 146 counters active on Sunday, 5 closed flat. 19,990 deals worth KD 90.29 million were transacted during the session. In the banking sector, Gulf Bank dipped 9 fils to 245 fils and Kuwait International Bank followed suit after pushing 12.9 million shares. Burgan Bank slipped 6 fils to 220 fils while Boubyan Bank was down 8 fils at 787 fils with a volume of over 1 million. Warba Bank dropped 10 fils to 277 fils and Ahli United Bank BSC shed 13 fils. Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait gave up 7 fils while Ahli United Bank Kuwait closed 8 fils in red. Kuwait Cement Co slipped 12 fils to 233 fils and HEISC followed suit to end at 452 fils. Kuwait Portland Cement was down 11 fils at 979 fils and Kuwait Foundry Co gave up 10 fils.

Metal and Recycling Co fell 5 fils to 102 fils and ACICO Industries closed 6 fils in red. Equipment Holding eroded 8.9 fils and NICBM fell 3 fils to 192 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co bucked the trend to add 9 fils with thin trading whereas NCCI slid 15 fils. Educational Holding dropped 18 fils to 580 fils while Independent Petroleum Group shed 22 fils. Arabi Group Holding slipped 13 fils to 182 fils and Sultan Centre closed 7 fils in red. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co retreated 6.3 fils to 64.8 fils while KCPC gave up 10 fils. Burgan Company For Well Drilling slipped 14 fils to 145 fils while Combined Group Contracting Co shed 16 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts eroded 8.2 fils while OSOS Holding and Hayat Communications gave up 5 fils to close at 115 fils and 106 fils respectively Egypt Kuwait Holding slipped 12 fils to 423 fils while Inovest BSC and Al Manar Financial gave up 6 fils each. United Projects dropped 7 fils to 280 fils and Oula Fuel Marketing followed suit. Soor Fuel Marketing closed 13 fils in red. GFH Financial Group was down 6.4 fils at 85.5 fils. The market was downbeat during the past week. The main index closed lower in all the five sessions, skidding 155 points week-onweek. It has slid 178 points so far during the month and is up 1,383 points year-to-date. By John Mathews Arab Times Staff