KUWAIT CITY, Dec 21: Kuwait stocks retreated Monday, snapping the 6-day winning streak. The index pulled 32.8 points lower in choppy trading as profit taking weighed on select blue chips and some of the mid level stocks. Agility and Zain paced the day’s decline. The market winded up at 7,071.50 points amid a steep drop in volume turnover. The benchmark, which crossed the 7,000 points mark on 16th Dec, had added 360 points in last six sessions.
Agility dived 6.3 percent, extending the moderate fall in the earlier session. It closed at KD 0.740 after trading over 4 million shares. The stock currently has a price-to-earning ratio of 4.99. Zain was down 3.7 percent at KD 1.020, erasing the modest gains on Thursday. It fluctuated in 60 fils range during the day and posted a volume turnover of 3.5 million shares.
Wataniya Telecom pulled 20 lower during the session, wiping an identical rise in the earlier session and settled at KD 1.540. The stock had edged 1.32 percent higher in November but is trading 18 percent lower since the start of the year. National Industries Group fell 5 fils, paring the gains on Thursday. It closed at KD 0.335 and the counter saw over 4 million shares change hands during the session.

The bourse saw a strong rally during the last week. It closed higher in all 5 sessions rallying 346 points week-on-week. It has climbed 138 points since the start of the month and is trading 7 percent down year-to-date. KSE, after rallying strongly from March, has been heading south since middle of June mainly owing to lack of strong cues to bolster the market confidence.
Among other notable movers, Kuwait Food Co ( Americana) dived 40 fils while Egypt Kuwait Holding Co eased 20 fils to settle at KD 0.590. Kuwait Portland Cement Co shed 30 fils to close at KD 0.760. Combined Group Contracting Co added 20 fils after trading in a 60 fils range while IFA (Hotels and Resorts) was down 10 fils at KD 0.550 extending an identical loss on Thursday. Boubyan Petrochemicals Co dropped 15 fils to close at KD 0.420.

In the recent earnings announcements, Al Safat Real Estate Company has incurred a net loss of KD 3,554,823 and loss per share of 14.81 fils in the three-month period ended 10-31-2009. This compares with net loss of KD 3,205,334 and loss per share of 13.36 fils for the same period in 2008. In the six-month period the net loss reached KD 3,101,186 and loss per Share read 12.92 fils.
National Ranges Company’s Board of Directors has approved interim financial statements for the periods ended September 30, 2009. In the three-month period the company incurred a net loss reached KD 990,418 and loss per share of 1.05 fils compared to a net profit of KD 4,961,335 and earnings per share of 5.10 fils for the same period last year. In the nine-month period ended the net profit touched KD 742,183 and earnings per share worked out at 0.79 fils compared.

The investment stocks headed mostly south as profit taking partly dented the earlier gains. International Financial Advisors slipped 3 fils to KD 0.099 after trading 19.7 million shares while National Investment Company was unchanged at KD 0.385. KIPCO dropped 15 fils, trimming the robust gains on Thursday and winded up at KD 0.495. The scrip has a PE ratio of 45.92. Kuwait Financial Centre slipped 6 fils while International Investment Group and Al Maal Investment Co fell 4 fils each.
Bayan Investment too was down 4 fils whereas Global Investment House bucked the market trend to edge 2 fils higher to KD 0.102. The stock had shed 15 percent in November and is trading over 40 percent lower since start of the year. KAMCO slid 25 fils to wind up at KD 0.122 and Al Deera Holding Co inched 1 fils lower. Al Safat Investment fell 2 fils while Al Madina For Finance and Investment Co took in 3 fils. It closed at KD 0.078 and posted a volume turnover of 1.75 million.

Rose
Kuwait Gulf Links rose 10 fils to close at KD 0.164. National Real Estate Co and Mabanee Co dropped 10 fils each while Jazeera Airways did not move in either direction. The airline has posted a third quarter profit of KD 762.745 and earnings per share of 3.47 fils. For the nine-months ended 30 September, it suffered a loss of KD 1,475,034 and loss per share worked out at 6.71 fils.
In more of corporate developments, Burgan Bank has reported that it has obtained the approval of the Central Bank of Kuwait to increasing capital by KD 36,000,000, divided into 360,000,000 shares, at 100 fils par value plus 180 fils issue premium each. Thus, the total amount of the secondary offering would reach KD 100,800,000.
Global Investment House earlier in the month has said that it had agreed to reschedule $1.7 billion in debt with its creditors and had entered into new three year facilities with each of its 53 lending banks. The new facilities are largely based on the same terms as the existing ones, but included restrictions on dividend payments, additional debt and capital expenditures.
The market opened volatile and slipped below the red in early trading. The index continued to slide as profit taking dragged some of the blue chips and mid caps after the recent gains. The market hit the day’s lowest of 7037 past the mid-session and a spurt in buying in the final minutes helped pare the losses slightly.

In the economic front, Kuwait is expected to post a budget surplus of up to KD6.6 billion this year on higher-than-expected oil prices, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) said in a report. If, public expenditures come in at five to 10 per cent below the budget plans, the government is expected to see another large budget surplus of between KD5.3bn and KD6.6bn this year, before allocating 10 per cent of revenues to the Reserve Fund for Future Generations.
Top gainer, Taameer, spiked 9 percent to close at KD 0.060 and IIC stood next rising 8.9 percent. Equipment Holding Co dipped 6.6 percent, the steepest decliner, while Hits Telecom topped the volume with over 41 million shares changing hands. Meanwhile the volume turnover slid 54 percent to 325 million after trading above 700 million mark in the past three sessions.