KUWAIT CITY, Jan 17: Kuwait stocks eked modest gains to cross the 7000 mark on Sunday even as investors remained cautious in the run—up to the earnings season. The index rose 28.1 points in lackluster trading led by National Bank of Kuwait while most of the other blue chips traded range bound. Some of the middle level stocks sagged on selling pressure.
The market wound up at 7014 points , adding to the gains in the earlier session. The weighted index edged 1.45 points up to close at 383.59 points amid a surge in volume turnover. Over 638 million shares were transacted — up 85 percent from previous session.
National Bank of Kuwait climbed 20 fils to wind up at KD 1.120 on back of 1.3 million shares. The lender had closed flat in the previous session. Agility slipped 10 fils offsetting the gains in the previous session. The counter closed at KD 0.630 and saw 2.72 million shares change hands during the day.

Zain did not budge from its previous close of KD 0.930 and posted a volume of over 2 million shares. Zain’s major stake holder Kharafi Group, is in a long drawn process of selling a substantial part of its shares to a consortium led by India’s Vavasi Group. Wataniya Telecom too held the ground steady at KD 1.540 on thin trading level. The mobile service provider as flat in December and has not moved from it 2009 close.
The market had been mixed during the previous week as brief spells of profit taking and intermittent sell—offs swayed the trading floor. The index closed lower in three of the five sessions shedding 27 points week-on-week. However it is still up 43 points since the start of the month. The bourse, battered by weak earning by most of the leading listed companies and slew of adverse factors, had eroded 8 percent in 2009.

Trading is range bound — some of the small cap names come into play from time to time, but the market is directionless,” Reuters quoted Shahid Hameed, Global Investment House head of asset management for the Gulf region. “There’s no news flow on the large caps — bank sector stocks have been stable for some time, but there’s no trigger to move them, so activity is shifting to the second and third tier names”, he added.  Jazeera Airways inched 2 fils higher to KD 0.198 after moving in a 4 fils range intra—day. The stock was flat during December and has added 8 fils so far during the month from its 2009 close. Combined Group Contracting Co plunged 60 fils to end at KD 1.480 whereas Kuwait Building Material Manufacturing Co was up 15 fils at KD 0.415. Boubyan Petrochemical Co and Kuwait Foundry Co closed unchanged at KD 0.410 and KD 0.800 respectively.

Stagnate
National Industries Group continued to stagnate at KD 0.315 after trading over 6.03 million shares. Other notable mover of the day includes Egypt Kuwait Holding Co which United Gulf Bank eroded 10 fils to settle at KD 0.310. Kuwait Food Co ( Americana) dived 40 fils to wind up at KD 1.440 while United Foodstuff Industries Group Co was down 10 fils at KD 0.315. In the bourse related news, KSE listed Strategia Investment Company announced that its Board of Directors endorsed the company’s capital increase. The raise will be reflected in company’s balance sheet as on Dec 31, 2009, as per the regulations of the Central Bank of Kuwait.
Watani Investment Bank, a subsidiary of National Bank of Kuwait, launched an investment fund through the Watany Bank of Egypt under the name of Ishraq and operating in the Egyptian market. The company has opened the fund’s subscription on January 3, 2010 with a minimum of EGP 5,000 on first time investment and without any expenses either on subscription or redemption.
The banking stocks were largely muted during the day. Gulf Bank closed flat at KD 0.290. The bank has sued Saudi Arabian conglomerate Saad Group for $125 million for alleged breach of contract and fraud over a credit agreement. The bank has an exposure of less than $30 million to Saad. Al Ahli Bank too followed suit to wind up at KD 0.500 while Commercial Bank was not traded during the day. Bank of Kuwait and Middle East held the ground flat at KD 0.510. 

Burgan Bank winded up flat at KD 0.315 after closing lower on Thursday. The lender had eased 4.23 percent in December and had plunged 46 percent in the whole of 2009. Kuwait Finance House too was stagnant at KD 1.080 after closing lower in the last session. The counter saw 0.6 million shares change hands.
Al Madina for Finance and Investment Company announced that the Central Bank of Kuwait approved the request submitted by the Company to repurchase or sell a 10 percent maximum of its issued shares over a six—month period, as of the current approval expiry on September 9, 2009. Al Madina is committed to abide by CBK’s buyback rules and regulations.
National Investments Company announced that sale talks for a 46 percent stake in Zain Telecommunications Company may take longer time that previously planned due to the latest developments of the region’s economic and financial conditions. However, the sale transaction is ongoing.

Gains
In the investment sector, some stocks managed to notch marginal gains. International Financial Advisors rose 4 fils to close at KD 0.104 and posted volume of whopping 37.6 million shares. National Investment Company was up 5 fils at KD 0.335 while KIPCO closed flat at KD 0.475 after closing lower in the previous session. International Investment Group took in 3 fils whereas Bayan Investment Co did not move in either direction.
Global Investment House edged 2 fils higer to close at KD 0.090 adding to the meager rise in the previous session, while Al Madina For Finance and Investment Company took in 1 fils. Global had climbed 8.7 percent in December and is trading 9 fils higher from its previous session.
Noor Financial and Investment Co did not move in either direction. Noor has logged a third quarter profit of KD 253.261 and earnings per share of 0.26 fils against the same period last year while in the nine—month period, it has incurred a loss of KD 11,972,406 and loss per share of 16.07 fils .

National Real Estate Co flunked 2 fils after stagnating on Thursday and Mazaya Holding Co followed suit to wind up at KD 0.134.
In the economic front, Kuwait is expected to spend KD 12-15 billion ($42-52 billion) in its 2010/11 budget, the Gulf country’s finance minister said last week. The state has approved to spend KD 12.12 billion  in the current 2009/10 budget. The country logged a surplus of 6.32 in the first eight months of the fiscal year, which starts in April, due to higher oil revenues.
The top gainer, Al Mudon International Real Estate Co spiked 10 percent to cloe at KD 0.220 while Al Safwa Group Co climbed 7.4 percent to settle at KD 7.4 million. Nafais slid 8.6 percent, the steepest decliner of the day. While Al Safwa topped the volume too with 68.6 million shares changing hands. A total of 7163 deals worth KD 61.51 million were transacted — up 52 percent in value over previous day.