Kuwait City, May 5: Kuwait stocks  slid further on Wednesday, extending  the losses to the third straight session. The index  plunged 72.9 points in choppy trade dragged  by renewed selling in some of middle level stocks in the industrial and services sector. Select blue chips too came  under selling pressure. The trading floor sentiments were distinctly bearish even as investors continued to toe caution in absence of  fresh cues after the Zain stake deal. The market wound up at 7178 points  —  the lowest level since the second week of February. The weighted index shed 5.4 points  to settle at  430.57 points while  the volume turnover slid  19.3 percent to the year’s lowest of the 138.11 million. The market liquidity has been anemic since the start of  April.

The sectors  traded mostly in the red. The banking  sector dropped 0.8 percent while investment slid 1.4 percent. Services too  shed 1.4 percent while industrials lost 1.5 percent - the steepest decliners of the day. Real estate were down 0.6 percent and insurance closed flat. Food sector climbed — 1.2 percent — the only gainer of the day, while non-Kuwaitis  edged 0.3 percent lower.
Notable among the losers, Zain  dived 2.9 percent after stagnating in the previous session. The counter saw a volume turnover of 5.69 million shares. Agility  closed flat after  posting steep losses  in the past three sessions. It closed at KD 0.590 after  vacillating in a  20 fils  range. The stock was  volatile  in the last week of April  after  media reports that the US government was close to a deal with the firm to settle fraud accusations. It  gained 5 percent in April and is trading 20 fils higher since the start of the  year.
Wataniya Telecom held the ground unchanged  at KD 1.700 after closing flat in the previous session.

The telecom service provider has  logged a  profit of  $56.2 million in the first three months of the current year— a rise 5.9 percent year-on-year.  Kuwait Gulf  Links dropped 13 points and KGL Logistics slid 22 fils to wind up at KD 0.248. IFA ( Hotels and Resorts)  slid 40 fils to wind up at KD 0.520 while Advanced Technology Company tumbled 60 fils.
“Sentiment is negative across the world and there’s been a sell off in the US, so the feel-good factor is not there,”  Reuters quoted  Shahid Hameed, Global Investment House head of asset management for the Gulf region.  “Markets have run quite a bit and there’s a lack of news flow at the moment — Q1 numbers have come out and markets are ripe for correction, so a combination of all these factors.”
“Across the region we are seeing this sell-off. People are taking a wait and see approach because of the Greece issue and fears of a contagion across Europe,” he added.  “People are choosing to stay on the sidelines and that’s what’s causing the weakness in the market.”

Spiked
The top gainer of the day,  Amar For Finance and Leasing spiked  9.09 percent to close at KD 0.060 while Advanced Technology jumped 8.9 percent to stand next. Cable TV slid 12.04 percent — the biggest loser of the day, while Gulf Finance House topped the volume with 10.52 million shares changing hands.
The  banking stocks closed mostly lower. National Bank of  Kuwait continued to stagnate at KD 1.240  and posted a volume turnover of 1.71 million shares. The lender has reported  a net profit  of $264  million for the  2010 first quarter — up 20 percent  from  $220 million in  the same period in 2009. Gulf Bank eased 5 fils, erasing an identical rise on Tuesday.
Commercial Bank held the ground unchanged at KD  0.930 while Al Ahli Bank eroded 10 fils to close at KD 0.930. Ahli United Bank closed flat whereas Burgan Bank edged 2 fils lower to settle at KD  0.350 after trading 2.82 million shares. The stock had retreated 6.67 percent in April and is trading 10 fils up year-to-date.

The  reflecting the weak sentiments, the losers vastly outnumbered the gainers. 10 stocks advanced while 81 closed lower. Of the 118  counters active on Wednesday, 26 closed unchanged . 3343 deals worth KD 34.82 million were transacted —  down 9.5 percent in value over previous session.
The market opened  negative and slid sharply lower in  the first 30 minutes of trading as investors exited some of the mid-value and  heavyweight stocks.
The index stabilized thereafter and  moved almost flat as sentiments turned brittle. The market  bottomed at 7160.8 points and rose slightly at close helped by a spurt in buying.
The market  has been  bearish  so far  during the  week. It has shed 121  points from close of last week  It has lost  233 points  during whole of  April and  is trading 4  percent up  year-to-date.

Fell
The investment major KIPCO fell 5 fils while National Investment Co dropped 20 fils to close at KD 0.420. The counter saw  2.12 million shares change hands during the day.  Bayan Investment fell 2 fils and so did Global Investment House to wind up at KD 0.090. Shareholders of  Global  HAS approved a 76-percent capital hike worth around $346 million.
In the bourse related news, Kuwait Cable Vision Co announced its results for the First Quarter for the 3 months ending on 31/3/2010 .
It uncured a net loss KD 107,121  and loss per share clocked of fils 1.87 . Kuwait Business Town Real Estate Co. has announced a first quarter  net loss  of KD 7,420,060  and loss per share  of  fils 9.45 as giants  net profit of  KD 373,316 and  earnings per share of 0.68 fils in the same period last year.
INOVEST announced financial results for the 3 months ending March 31, 2010. Net loss amounted to KD 1,441,934 and loss per share clocked 5.08 fils against net profit KD 3,158,364 and earning per share 11.34 Fils for same period 2009 .

Qurain Petrochemical Industries Co has  announced  the adoption of its interim statements for the  first quarter  ending 31/3/2010. The company logged a profit of  KD 3,251,537 and earnings per share of  2.97 fils, compared to KD 8,788,639 and earnings per share 8.0 fils for the same period in previous year.
Meanwhile, Kuwait Stock Exchange has  suspended the following companies  from trading for failing to  submit the financial statements in the stipulated time. They are : -  Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Company,  Al Safat Global Holding Company Network Holding Company , Al Dar Investment Company,  International Leasing and Investment Company, Villa Moda Lifestyle Company , Al Ahlia Holding Company,  Securities Group Company,  International Investment Group,  Aayan Leasing and Investment Co,  Gulf International Investment Group,  Investors Holding Group,  Grand Real Estate Projects Company, and: Al Abraj Holding Company.