KUWAIT CITY, Oct 12: Kuwait stocks rebounded on Tuesday after slipping into a shallow trough in the previous session. The index climbed 46 points helped by strong buying in some of the bank stocks. Blue chips closed mixed whereas speculative interest was witnessed in select mid-priced counters. The trading floor sentiments were boosted by third quarter earnings optimism especially in the banking sector.
The market wound up at 7,054.70 points after getting off to a weak start while the weighted index rose 3.91 points to settle at 478.68 points. The volume meanwhile swelled past the 400 million mark after rising in the last two days. It jumped12.8 percent to 426.18 million — the highest level so far in the month. The volume has been anemic for most part of the third quarter and showed an uptick towards the end of September.

Kuwait Finance House rallied 40 fils more than recouping the drop in the previous session. The counter saw 4.76 million shares change hands. Agility gained 20 fils to close at KD 0.560 after stagnating in the previous session. The stock got a fillip earlier in the week after a US judge recommended the dismissal of a case against the logistics major’s subsidiary.
Bourse heavyweight Zain held the ground unchanged at KD 1.380 after vacillating in a broad 40 fils range intra-day. The stock posted a volume turnover of 1.07 million shares. The Kharafi Group led stake sale seems to have taken a backseat in the trading floor as investors got weary of waiting for the final outcome. Wataniya Telecom was steady at KD 1.860 with thin trading.

Among other movers, National Investment Co regained momentum after pulling lower on Monday. It climbed 25 fils on back of 3.73 million shares to close at KD 0.520. Combined Group Contracting Co rallied 60 fils extending the robust rally in the previous session and wound up at KD 1.940. Kuwait Portland Cement Co added 20 fils to close at KD 1.560.
The market opened weak but clawed back in early trade as investors chased stocks on third quarter earning growth hopes. The index revved up amid strong buying and crested at 7063.4 points well past the mid-session. Thereafter it moved flat briefly before sagging in the final minutes and wound up with impressive gains.
“In the banking sector, the market is expecting growth in the third quarter, more than in the first two quarters, so this is positive on the market,” Reuters quoted a a trader at Zummoroda Investment Co. “The market will remain volatile for the time being but the trend is up.”

Spiked
The top gainer of the day, First Takaful Insurance Co spiked 11.62 percent to KD 0.096 while Arab Real Estate Co climbed 9.8 percent to stand next. Osoul Investment Co slid over 8 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while Investors Holding Group topped the volume with 87.68 million shares changing hands during the session.
Reflecting the day’s gains, the winners vastly outled the losers. 72 stocks advanced while 26 closed lower. Of the 124 counters active on Tuesday, 226 closed flat. 6074 deals worth KD 51.43 million were transacted — a 43 percent drop in value over previous session. The sectors closed mostly higher. Banking sector rose 0.7 percent while the top performer investment rallied 1.4 percent. Insurance eased 0.7 percent whereas real estate gained 1 percent. Industrials inched 0.1 percent lower whereas services added 0.8 percent. Food sector was stagnant and non-Kuwaiti was up 0.2 percent.
The bourse has been upbeat so far during the week and has added 24 points from Sunday’s opening level. It has climbed 70 points so far during the month and is trading 2 percent higher year-to date. The bourse had rallied 6.75 percent in the July-September quarter, the highest quarterly gain so far during the year.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait closed flat at KD 1.420 after slipping into red earlier in the session and the counter saw 2.41 million shares change hands. The lender has announced a 5.7 percent rise in third-quarter net profit. Commercial Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.910 whereas Al Ahli Bank rose 20 fils to close at KD 0.580.
Gulf Bank rose 20 fils back of 7.7 million shares to settle at KD 0.540. The lender has won the Central Bank of Kuwait approval for the request to buy back or sell a maximum 10 percent of its issued shares for a six-month period as of the current approval expiry on Oct 14, 2010 buyback rules and regulations.
Ahli United Bank slid 30 fils to close at KD 0.580 while Kuwait International Bank was flat at KD 0.300 after fluctuating in a narrow range. Burgan Bank too did not move in either direction and settled at KD 0.485 while Boubyan Bank rose 10 fils to settle at KD 0.640.
Investment heavyweight KIPCO edged 5 fils higher on back of 1.75 million extending the gains on Monday. The company last month had reached a deal to sell a 39.2 percent stake in Gulf Insurance Co to Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings for $208.6 million. Securities Group Company was steady at KD 0.238 while Aref Investment Group inched 1 fils higher. Bayan Investment Co ended unchanged at KD 0.068 whereas Global Investment House was up 2 fils at KD 0.058 with a volume turnover of 8.88 million shares.

Al Safat Investment Co too rose 2 fils while Noor Financial Investment and Al Tamdeen Investment Co gained 5 fils each.
In the bourse related news, Kuwait Stock Exchange has suspended the following companies from trading in the bourse for failing to submit the financial statements in the stipulated time: Safat Global Holding, Investment Dar Company, International Leasing and Investment Co, Villa Moda Life Stylle, Securities House Company, International Investment Group, Network Holding Co, Al-Ahleia Holding Company., Gulfinvest International Co, Aayan Leasing and Investment Company, Equipment Holding Co Pearl of Kwt. Real Est Co, and Al-Abraj Holding Co. The companies which were barred for carrying forward losses exceeding 75 percent of capital are : Gulfinvest International Co, Equipment Holding Co, Network Holding Co.
Al Madar Finance and Investment Co has incurred loss amounting to KD 3,721,396 and loss per share of 10.46 fils in the second quarter as against loss of KD 3,280,688 and loss per share of 9.22 fils in same period last year. In the first half of the year it posted a loss of KD 6,945,971 while loss per share chalked 19.53 fils.

Al-Enmaa Real Estate Company has posted a profit of KD 99,862 and earnings per share of 0.22 fils in the second quarter as compared to a loss of KD 1,508,451 and loss per share 3.35 fils for the same period last year. In the six-month period ending June 30, the company recorded a profit of KD 596,487 and earnings per share of 1.32 fils.
The Industrial and Financial Inv Co announced the financial results for the second quarter and the six months ending June 30, 2010. In the 2nd quarter loss amounted to KD 2,800,493 while loss per share clocked 6.89 fils against profit of KD 552,852 and earnings per share of 1.36 fils for same period in 2009. In the first half of 2010, the loss totaled KD 2,961,684 and loss per share worked out at 7.28 fils.