KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Tuesday, partly offsetting the strong gains in the previous session. The index shed 15.4 points giving up modest gains earlier in the day as profit booking swayed the trading floor. The day’s fall was led by Kuwait Finance House and Al Ahli Bank even as most of the blue chips closed lower. The market mood was laced with caution stemming from the expected bleak earnings outlook.
The market wound up 0.2 percent lower at 7068.6 points amid a slight fall in volume turnover. Over 601 million shares were traded - down 7.5 percent from the previous session. The volume had spiked above 8 million on last Wednesday and has been largely robust since the start of the year. Weighted index fell 1.88 points to 379.26 points.
Sectorwise, services showed the best performnace rising 0.8 percent while investment suffered the maximum loss sliding 0.9 percent. Banking sector dropped 0.7 percent whereas real estate was down 0.4 percent. Industrials rose 0.5 percent.

Kuwait Finance House dropped 20 fils erasing an identical gain on Monday. It closed at KD 1.060 after trading in a narrow range while Al Ahli Bank eroded 15 fils to settle at KD 0.475 with low volume turnover. The lender had closed flat in the previous session. Agility slipped 10 fils after trading 1.7 million shares. The stock moved in a 20 flils range before winding up at KD 0.570. The share had plunged 33 percent in December and shed 9 percent in 2009. Zain too eased 10 fils addding to an identical drop on Monday. 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 did not budge from its previous close of KD 1.520.
The market had been mixed so far during the week and is up 25 points from Sunday’s opening level. The index, which has been hovering around the 7000 mark since second week of December, has climbed 97 points so far in the month. The bourse, battered by weak earning by most of the leading listed companies, had eroded 8 percent in 2009.
Among the notable gainers, Combined Group Co spiked 40 fils to close at KD 1.600 and Aref Energy Holding Co rose 20 fils on back of 6.78 million shares. IFA (Hotels and Resorts) was up 10 fils at KD 0.530. National Industries Group held the ground unchanged at KD 0.335 and the counter saw 9.7 million shares change hands. Kuwait Portland Cement rallied 60 fils on back of 4.86 million shares.

Slid
Kuwait Food Co (Americana) slid 80 fils with razor thin volume while Egypt Kuwait Holding Co dropped 30 fils to close at KD 0.580. Kuwait Cement Co and RISCO added 10 fils each while Gulf Cable dropped 20 fils erasing an identical gain on Monday.
In the bourse related news, the paid up capital of KSE listed Gulf Finance House B.S.C has been changed due to a Murabaha Converting transaction of $10 million by 26,315,789 shares effective January 21, 2010. The distribution of shares are as follows: - previous total outstanding shares: 1,830,543,093; new total outstanding shares: 1,856,858,882; previous total paid up capital (USD): 604,079,221 and new total paid up papital (USD): 612,763,431. Bank of Kuwait and Middle East announced selling its stake amounting to 8,750,000 shares in Ahli United Bank-Egypt at EGP37 per share. The bank received KD 17 million from the sale of the above mentioned shares notched a net profit of KD 645,000 from the transaction.

The banking stocks closed mixed. National Bank of Kuwait continued to stagnate at KD 1.080. It fluctuated in a 20 fils range intra-day and posted a volume turnover of 1.22 million. The lender had inched 1.82 percent up in December and had gained 4.4 percent in 2009. Gulf Bank climbed 15 fils after closing flat in the previous session while Commercial Bank was up 20 fils at KD 0.980.
Bank of Kuwait and Middle East lost 20 fils whereas Burgan Bank did not move in either direction. It closed at KD 0.315. Boubyan Bank eased 5 fils to wind up at KD 0.410
In more from the results front, Kuwait Building Materials Manufacturing Company announced its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2009. It reveals a net profit of KD 563,950 and earnings per share of 21.5 fils compared to a profit of KD 549,396 and earnings per share of 20.9 for the same period in 2008.
Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Company announced financial statements for the three month-period ended June 30, 2009 revealed a net profit of KD 245,422 and Earnings per Share of 0.98 fils compared to a profit of KD 8,110,220 and Earnings per Share of 32.23 for the same period in 2008. The six-month period ended June 30, 2009 the company posted a net loss amounting to KD 4,784,420 and loss per share of 19.02 fils.

Muted
Investment stocks remained largely muted. International Financial Advisers inched 2 fils lower to KD 0.108 while National Investment Co eroded 10 fils to close at KD 0.305. KIPCO fell 5 fils to KD 0.475 while Kuwait Financial Centre Company and International Investment Group flunked 2 fils each. Aref Investment Group closed flat at KD 0.126 with volume turnover of 9.44 million and so did Bayan Investment Co which winded up at KD 0.069.
Global Investment House took in 5 fils and saw a whopping 25.4 million shares change hands during the session. The investment banker has reached formal agreements with all of its financiers to restructure $1.7 billion in debt. The firm which has been seeking to resolve a $3 billion debt default, has entered into new three-year amortizing facilities with each of its 53 lending banks.

KAMCO edged 5 fils lower to settle at KD 0.395 while Al Deera Holding Co inched 2 fils lower. Al Safat Investment Co too was down 2 fils at KD 0.136 and Noor Financial Investment Company followed suit. The company has logged a third quarter profit of KD 253.261 and earnings per share of 0.26 fils against a loss of KD 3,746,396 and loss per share of 5.08 fils for the same period last year. For the nine-month period from end of December 2008, it has incurred a loss of KD 11,972,406 and loss per share of 16.07 fils.
KSE had slumped 5.63 percent in December and the weighted index slid a whopping 8.46 percent. Volume turnover soared 19.6 percent while value of shares spiked 93 percent month-on-month. The top advancer of the month was Oula Fuel and Marketing Co, rising 37.14 percent whereas the worst performer was Al Madar Finance and Investment Co diving 32.35 percent. Banking sector slid 5.84 percent while investment sector dropped 3.98 percent. Industrials suffered the heaviest loss plunging 10.10 percent.