KUWAIT CITY, Feb 17: Kuwait stocks dived on Wednesday, snapping the 11-day winning streak. The index shed 74 points in slightly volatile trade as investors locked in profit in select banking scrips and most of the industrials which had rallied since the start of the week. The bourse winded up 1 percent lower at 7366.60 clawing back from steeper losses earlier in the session.
The weighted index retreated 1.88 points to 420.33 points while the volume turnover eased slightly. It fell 3.6 percent to 703.6 million shares. It had surged past the 900 million mark on Monday as investors piled on to Kharafi group companies in anticipation of a windfall in the event of Zain Africa stake sale coming through.
Sectorwise, industrials suffered the worst reversal sliding 2.4 percent while banking stood next shedding 1.9 percent. Investment was down 1.3 percent and services inched 0.1 percent lower. Real estate fell 0.2 percent.
Zain, bucked the market trend to surge 6.7 percent, adding to the strong gains in the previous session. The telecom major is in exclusive talks with India’s Bharti Telecom to sell some of its African assets for $10.7 billion.
“Zain’s deal is good -the company, shareholders and banks will all benefit,” Reuters quoted Naser al-Nafisi, general manager for Al Joman Center for Economic Consultancy in Kuwait.
“We expected some profit taking today after the market went up more than 300 points in a matter of days,” Nafisi noted. “Our official outlook is for Kuwait to gain 10 percent this year and it is up 5 percent already, so the market can do more, but not that much.”

National Bank of Kuwait dived 5.1 percent to close at KD 1.220 after trading 2.6 million shares. The lender is planning to raise its capital by 10 percent through a rights issue by the end of the year to fund expansion. The bank aims to price the rights issue at 500 fils per share including premium.
National Industries Group slid 6.3 percent trimming the non-stop gains since Sunday. It winded up at KD 0.370 and posted a volume turnover of 9.6 million shares. Agility climbed 50 fils, adding to the marginal gains on Tuesday. The logistics major is process of settling a court case in US in connection with alleged overcharging in US military contracts. Wataniya Telecom too was up 20 fils, extending an identical gain in the previous session. The market had been positive during the week gaining 145 points since Sunday’s opening level. The index has climbed 344 points so far in the month after posting a modest 20 points gain in January. The bourse is trading 7 percent up since the start of the year.

Movers
Among other notable movers, Kuwait Food Co (Americana) dipped 80 fils after spiking 100 fils in the previous session. Kuwait Cement Co dropped 50 fils to close at KD 0.710 after trading 1.28 million shares, Gulf Cables was stagnant at KD 1.960 pausing after steep gains in the previous three sessions.
Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co dived 50 fils and Contracting and Marine Services Co was down 20 fils at KD 0.490. Kuwait Portland Cement Co too shed 20 fils while Kuwait Foundry Co slid 40 fils to wind up at KD 0.920 on low volume turnover. Boubyan Petrochemical Co closed 20 fils lower at KD 0.510 after trading over 8.9 million shares.
Egypt Kuwait Holding retreated 20 fils to wind up at KD 0.670. The company has posted a net profit amounting to KD 34,078,476 and earnings per share of 44.73 fils compared to a net profit of KD 30,354,823 and earnings per share of 39.78 fils. The Board of Directors has also recommended distributing cash dividends at 5% of the share nominal value and bonus shares at 10% of the paid up capital.

The banking stocks closed mostly in the red. Kuwait Finance House dived 60 fils to end at KD 1.140 after stagnating in the previous session. It saw a volume turnover of 4.3 million shares. Gulf Bank held the ground steady at KD 0.320 whereas Commercial Bank of Kuwait was down 20 fils at KD 0.920. Burgan Bank eked 10 fils rise to close at KD 0.345 whereas Boubyan Bank slipped 10 fils to close at KD 0.450. Bank of Kuwait and Middle East eroded 10 fils and Al Ahli Bank too followed suit to wind up at KD 0.500. Fitch Ratings has affirmed ABK’s ratings at Long-term Issuer Default (IDR) ‘A-’, Short-term IDR ‘F2’, Individual ‘C/D’ and Support ‘1’. The Support Rating Floor is affirmed at ‘A-’. The Outlook for the Long-term IDR is Stable.
In bourse related news, Burgan Bank announced that the Central Bank of Kuwait approved the bank’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2009. The lender has posted a net profit of KD 6,211,000 and earnings per share of 6.1 fils compared to a net profit of KD 37,065,000 and Earnings per Share of 35.8 fils for the year 2008. The Board of Directors has also recommended retaining earnings for the financial year 2009.

Lower
Investment stocks too ended mostly lower. National Investment Co, in which Kharafi Group has substantial stake, slid 25 fils partly trimming the gains accrued in the three day rally while KIPCO was up 10 fils to end at KD 0.490. It traded 3.52 million shares during the day. Aayan Leasing and Investment Co edged 2 fils lower whereas Bayan Investment Co took in 2 fils to close at KD 0.073 and posted a volume turnover of 14.5 million shares.
Global Investment House slipped 5 fils, erasing an identical gain in the previous session. It traded 16 million shares during the session. Global has said last month that it is in initial talks with Cairo-based Arab African International Bank (AAIB), to sell a stake in an investment in Egypt. However it has clarified that sale is not a part of its debt settlement plan.
KAMCO dropped 20 fils to settle at KD 0.365. Al Deera Holding Co eased 2 fils to KD 0.102 whereas Al Safat Investment Co edged 2 fils higher to close at KD 0.356. Real estate major National Real Estate Co added 4 fils whereas Mabanee Co shed 30 fils to close at KD 0.720.
The market opened on a weak note and pulled sharply lower in early trading as trading floor swayed under a heavy bout of profit booking. The index bottomed at 7346.8 points and moved sideways in a tight range thereafter. It rose slightly past the mid-session but edged lower again amid selling pressure.