KUWAIT CITY, Feb 1: Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Tuesday reversing the modest rebound in the previous session. The index kicked off the month with a 54 points decline amid selling pressure. Zain and lenders weighed even as investors toed caution amid weak sentiments. Moderate selling was also witnessed in some of the mid-caps.
The bourse wound up at 6805.20 points while the weighted index slid 7.54 points to 473.39 points. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped as investors opted to wait and watch rather than take up fresh positions. 159.24 million shares changed hands - a 44.5 percent slide from previous session.
The market has been wobbly during January due to lack of fresh cues. Moreover investors saw little progress towards the successful completion of Zain stake sale deal . The index peaked at 6999.4 points on Jan 5th and moved range bound for most part of the month before tumbling on 30th tracking the decline in regional markets on Egypt unrest.
Zain dived 40 fils erasing an identical gain in the previous session. It wound up at KD 1.420 after trading 0.74 million shares. The stock was boosted on Monday on the Saudi Kingdom Holding’s offer to buy Zain’s entire stake in its Saudi unit. Zain has to sell its 25 percent stake in Zain Saudi to facilitate the Etisalat deal.

National Bank of Kuwait too slid 40 fils after stagnating in the previous session and settled at KD 1.400. The counter saw 1.43 million shares change hands. Burgan Bank was down 20 fils at KD 0.530 with a volume turnover of 1.73 million shares. The stock had gained 2.17 percent during January .
Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank fell 10 fils each to settle at KD 0.930 and KD 0.670 respectively while Gulf Bank held the ground unchanged at KD 0.550 after vacillating in a 10 fils range.
Agility fell 5 fils after posting an identical loss on Tuesday and ended at KD 0.455. The stock hit a rough patch during January following US prosecutors’ move to file a lawsuit against the logistics major. Wataniya Telecom however did not budge from its earlier close of KD 1.860.
Among other decliners, Gulf Cables dropped 20 fils to KD 1.900 and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co followed suit to wind up at KD 0.340. IFA Hotels and Resorts was down 20 fils at KD 0.520 and Egypt Kuwait Holding Co too dropped by same measure. National Industries Group however closed flat at KD 0.405 recovering from slight fall intra-day.

Slid
The market opened weak and slid sharply in early trading amid selling in bank stocks and mid-caps. The index moved sideways thereafter as sentiments turned brittle. It hit the day’s lowest level of 6794 points in the final minutes but manage to trim the losses slightly at close. The top gainer of the day, Arkan Real Estate Co spiked 6.8 percent to KD 0.062 while Al Massaleeh Real Estate Co climbed 6.5 percent to stand next. Dar Al Thuraya Real Estate Co slid 9.2 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while National Ranges Co ( Mayadeen) topped the volume with 49.6 million shares changing hands.
The losers vastly numbered the winners during the session. 14 stocks advanced while 63 closed lower. Of the 113 counters active on Tuesday, 35 closed flat. 2271 deals worth KD
The sectoral indices ended mostly in red. Banking sector dropped 1.9 percent, the biggest loser of the day and investment shed 1.1 percent. Insurance inched 0.1 percent lower while real estate and industrial were down 0.4 percent and 0.7 percent respectively. Services dropped 0.7 percent whereas food climbed 0.7 percent. Non-Kuwaitis lost 1.1 percent.

The bourse had been negative so far during the week and has slid 13 points from close of previous week. It had dropped 96 points during whole of January. KSE, with 215 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region. In the banking sector , Ahli United Bank dropped 20 fils to KD 0.790 whereas Kuwait International Bank was down 10 fils at KDD 0.345. The counter saw 5.8 million shares change hands. Boubyan Bank slipped 10 fils whereas Kuwait Finance House held the ground steady at KD 0.600 after trading 3.8 million shares.
Investment major KIPCO closed flat at KD 0.450 whereas National Investment Co shed 15 fils to settle at KD 0.435. The company last month won the Central Bank’s approval to buy back or sell up to 10 percent of issued shares for an extended period of 6 months till June 13, 2011. Aref Investment Co eased 2 fils whereas Bayan Investment Co was stagnant at 50 fils. KAMCO fell 5 fils while Global Investment House was unchanged at KD 0.054 after trading in a narrow range. The company has settled $ 27 million of the original loan due to creditor banks on December 13, 2010 taking the total amounts settled of principal loan since signing rescheduling agreement to $ 178.3 million.
Al Safat Investment Co and Noor Financial Investment Co fell 2 fils each and Kuwait Investment Co followed suit to wind up at KD 0.130. Capital Standards Rating Company has assigned a long-term issuer rating of ‘BBB’ and a national rating of ‘Akw’ to Kuwait Investment Company (KIC).

The outlook for the rating is negative
National Real Estate Co was off 4 fils at KD 0.246 while United Real Estate Co inched 1 fils lower. Tamdeen Real Estate Co eroded 5 fils and Mabanee Co dropped 10 fils to KD 0.760. Mazaya Holding Co flunked 2 fils and Real Estate Trade Centers Co was down 10 fils.
Meanwhile Kuwait Stock Exchange announced suspending shares of a number of companies as follows: Safat Global Holding, Investment Dar Company, International Leasing and Investment Co., Villa Moda Life Style, International Investment Group, Network Holding Co , Securities House Company, Gulfinvest International Co , International Investor Company, Aayan Leasing and Investment Company, Al Dar National Real Estate Co., Al-Abraj Holding Co. and Educational Holding Group Co.

In the bourse related news, Al-Madar Finance and Investment Company has posted a losses of KD 11.2 million and 31.5 fils per share in the first nine months of 2010 as compared to KD 8.6 million and 24.3 fils per share in the same period last year. Shareholder equity equaled KD 27 million and assets value totaled KD 115.4 million. Liabilities reached KD 81.2 million.
Al-Safat Investment Co. has incurred a net loss of KD 5,003,611 and loss per share of 6.48 fils for the nine months ended on September 30 as against a net loss of KD 6,747,994 and loss per share of 8.74 fils.
Noor Financial Investment Co has posted a net loss of KD 4,574,600 and loss per share of 32 fils as compared to net loss of KD 11,972,406 and loss per share of 16.07 fils.
Amar For Finance and Leasing Co has won the CBK nod to buy back or sell up to 10% of issued shares. Approval extends over 6 months commencing from expiry of current approval on December 14, 2010.