KUWAIT CITY, Jan 31: Kuwait stock market  retreated  Sunday, on  moderate profit booking in select counters. The index  slipped 9.4 points in listless trading, partly trimming the gains on Thursday. Kuwait Finance House and  Agility weighed  while most of the other blue chips were subdued.
The bourse inched 0.1 percent lower to 7025.3 points while the weighted index fell 1.31 points to 374.57 points. The benchmark has been hovering in close range of 7000 point mark since mid-December. The market mood continued to be cautious as investors await the financial results especially from the leading companies in the investment and banking sector.

The volume turnover meanwhile dropped 17 percent to 429.5 million. It had traded above the 500 million mark in four sessions last week. Sectorwise, food sector was the top performer rising 2.2 percent while  banking sector was the steepest decliner sliding 0.8 percent. Investment edged 0.2 percent lower while services was down 0.5 percent.
“People are selling the banks and the other bluechips such as Zain and Agility and buying into the small cap stocks trading at below 100 fils instead — these stocks have been the best performers so far this year,”  Reuters quoted  Essa al-Hasawi, a dealer at Noor Financial Investment Co.
“It’s the end of the month and so funds want to either lock in gains or boost the value of their portfolio - it depends on each fund but around 70-80 percent have to publish their NAV (net asset value) on a monthly basis,”

The market had been downbeat during the past  week as brief spells of buying were dwarfed by profit taking. The index closed lower in  three of the five  sessions,  eroding 9 points  week-on-week.  It has climbed a modest 20  points during  the month. The bourse, battered by weak earnings by most of the leading listed companies and low confidence,  had  shed  8 percent  in 2009.
Kuwait Finance House slid 3.7 percent to wind up at KD 1.040 erasing the gains on Thursday. The counter saw  0.93 million shares change hands during the session.
Agility shed 4.9 percent after trading 2.5 million shares. A court hearing has been rescheduled again, to Feb 8, the firm said in a statement on the Kuwaiti bourse website. The logistics provider stands accused of overcharging the US army, with the stock down 47 percent since the case was filed in November. “People are still confused about the stock,”  Hasawi noted.

Gained
Zain gained 10 fils to close at KD 0.910 on back of 6.63 million shares. The stock had edged 2 percent in December and had climbed 21 percent in whole of 2009. Wataniya Telecom did not budge from its previous close of KD 1.520. National Industries Group eroded 5 fils to settle at KD 0.295.
Among other movers, Kuwait Food Co ( America) spiked 60 fils on thin trading volume while Soor Fuel Marketing Co pulled 20 fils lower. Oula Fuel Marketing Company dropped 20 fils to end at KD 0.455 whereas Jazeera Airways held the ground unchanged at KD 0.188 pulling up from  a shallow trough earlier in the day. IFA( Hotels and Resorts) rose 20 fils to end at KD 0.530 .
Kuwait Cement Co slipped 10 fils to wind up at KD 0.580 and United Industries Co was down 4 fils after trading over 1.8 million shares.    Equipment Holding Co fell 4 fils to close at KD 0.06 0 while Mena Holidng  eroded 4 fils and posted a volume turnover of 1.57 million.                                                                                                                                        

In the bourse related news, Kuwait Building Materials Manufacturing Company announced  its financial statements for the year ended Dec 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. The BOD has also recommended the distribution of cash dividends at 15 percent of the share nominal value, subject to the General Assembly approval as well as the related authorities
Central Bank has approved Al-Safat Investment Company request to repurchase a 10 percent maximum of its issued shares for further 6 months, as of the current approval expiry on Jan 28, 2010. The approval is subject to compliance to  CBK’s buyback rules and regulations.
The banking stocks were mostly muted during the session. National Bank of Kuwait wound up flat at KD 1.060 after trading below the red earlier in the session while Gulf Bank fell 5 fils to settle at KD 0.285 after closing unchanged on Thursday. Commercial Bank pulled 10 fils lower to KD 0.920 whereas Bank of Kuwait and Middle East held the ground unchanged at KD 0.500.
Burgan Bank too did not move in either direction and winded up at KD  0.315. The scrip had lost 4 percent in December and has plunged 44 percent in whole of 2009. Boubyan Bank flunked 5 fils trading in a narrow range.

Results                                                                                 
In more of recent results, Al Safat Real Estate Company announced that in the three-month period ended September 31, the net loss reached KD 3,554,823 and loss per share  chalked  14.81 fils compared to a net loss of KD 3,205,334 and loss per share of 13.36 fils for the same period last year. In the  six-month the company incurred a net loss of  KD 3,101,186 and loss per share of 12.92 fils.
The investment stocks too traded in a close range during the day. National Investment Company closed flat at KD 0.300 after closing higher in the previous session. KIPCO too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.475. The investment conglomerate has logged a consolidated net profit of KD 45.6 million, or 43.04 fils per share, for the first nine months of 2009. It is noteworthy that the firm has made credit provisions. International Investment Group inched 1 fils lower whereas Aref Investment Co added 4 fils to wind up at KD 0.122 on back of 1.62 million shares. Aayan Leasing and Investment Co was stagnant at KD 0.080 whereas Bayan Investment Co eased 1 fils. Global Investment House Co slipped 3 fils almost wiping the rise on Thursday while Kuwait Financing and Investment Co climbed 4 fils.  Al Deera Holding and Al Safat Investment Co closed flat at KD 0.104 and KD 0.132 respectively. Noor Financial Investment Co too did not budge from its previous close of 0.84.

National Real Estate was up 4 fils at KD 0.206.
The top gainer of the day, Um Al Qwain Cement Industries Co soared 9.4 percent to KD 0.58 while National Cleaning Co climbed 7.8 percent to stand next. Kuwait Medical Services Co plunged 12.8 percent, the biggest loser of the day, while Al  Safat Technical Holding Co topped the volume with over 66 million shares changing hands.