KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: Kuwait stocks crept higher Tuesday, extending the gains to the seventh day in row. The index rose 8.1 points in volatile trade helped by buying in some of the mid-caps whereas the blue chips remained largely subdued. The trading floor sentiments were cautiously positive even as investors look for solid cues. The bourse wound up at 5,860.90 points after trading in red earlier in the session. The volume turnover swelled further adding to the rise in the last two sessions. 165.85 million shares changed hands during the day — a 20.9 percent increase from the day before. The trading volume has been extremely anemic during last month and had hit a multi-year low of 36.4 million on 24th Aug. Among the notable gainers, Ahli United Bank climbed 30 fils to KD 0.920 recouping the drop on Monday and wound up at KD 0.920. Kuwait International was up 5 fils on back of 1.93 million shares and Burgan Bank followed suit to wind up at KD 0.465.

United Gulf Bank gained 8 fils to close at KD 0.242 and Jazeera Airways too added 8 fils with a volume turnover of 1.94 million shares. The carrier has earned KD 3.3 million in the first half of 2011, recovering from net losses of KD 9.2 million a year earlier.
Kuwait Co For Process Plant Construction and Contracting rose 15 fils to end at KD 0.320 and Eygpt Kuwait Holding Co was up 5 fils at KD 0.310. United Industries Co gained 4 fils on back of 0.50 million shares after stagnating in the previous session.
Bourse heavyweight Zain held the ground steady at KD 0.940 after trading lower earlier in the session and garnered 13.71 percent share of the total market capitalization on Tuesday. The stock had shed 4.04 percent in August and is trading 10 fils lower so far during the month.

Close
Agility too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.265 after ending lower on Monday while Wataniya Telecom dropped 20 fils to KD 1.960 with low trading volume. The telecom service provider has posted a net profit of KD 23.3 million in the second quarter, up from KD 19.6 million in the previous year.
The market opened weak and ranged between a high of 5861 points and a low of 5,833.80 points before winding up in the positive region. The top gainer of the day, Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Co jumped 11.9 percent to 24 fils and Manfae Investment Co climbed 9.4 percent to stand next. MENA Real Estate Co slid 13.94 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while Al Safat Energy topped the volume with 24.3 million shares.

Confusion over new regulator rules is deterring trading on the Kuwait bourse, Reuters quoted Naser al-Nafisi, general manager for Al Joman Center for Economic Consultancy in Kuwait.
“We also think third-quarter profits will be lower than Q2 and don’t foresee any boom in the market in the near future — it will remain sideways until there are some positive or negative surprises to change the direction,” he added.
Mirroring the day’s modest gain, the winners slightly outnumbered the losers. 32 stocks advanced while 29 closed lower. Of the 94 stocks traded during the session, 35 closed flat. 1960 deals worth KD 12.86 million were transacted — a 13.2 percent rise in value over Monday.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 20 fils to KD 1.040 after trading 1.15 million shares. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs has slashed its price target on the bank’s stock to 1.39 dinars from 1.53 dinars.

Flat
Gulf Bank was flat at KD 0.495 after closing lower on Monday. Noor Financial Investment has inked a deal with Gulf Bank to reschedule its credit debts amounting to KD 62.5 million for 6 years ending June 30, 2017. Boubyan Bank retreated 10 fils after trading 1.39 million shares.
Kuwait Finance House was unchanged at KD 0.600 whereas Commercial Bank of Kuwait was not traded during the session. The lender has reported a 91 percent drop in the second-quarter net profit . Meanwhile Moody’s earlier in the month has affirmed the D+ standalone bank financial strength rating (BFSR) and A2/Prime-1 local and foreign-currency deposit ratings to CBK.
Investment major KIPCO and National Investment Co were flat at KD 0.180 and KD 0.335 whereas Al Maal edged 1.5 fils higher. Al Maal has incurred loss of KD 8,919,361 and loss per share of 16.88 fils in the first six months of 2011 as against net loss of KD 3,932,791 and loss per share of 7.44 fils in the year before.
Global Investment House crept 2.5 fils higher on back of 9.6 million shares and Bayan Investment was not traded during the session. Central Bank of Kuwait has rejected Bayan’s request to renew its offer to buyback up to 10 percent of own shares.

National Indutries Group and Gulf Cables were flat at KD 0.204 and KD 1.540 whereas Kuwait Pipes ticked 2 fils higher. ACICO Industries shed 8 fils and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Co ended flat.
The bourse has been upbeat so far during the week and has climbed 69 points from last week’s close.
The benchmark had dropped 3.95 percent in August and is s trading 16 percent lower year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Gulf Finance House has posted KD 193,670 net profit in the first half of 2011 while earnings per share chalked 1 fil. This compares with a net loss of 13,115,943 and loss per share of 29 fils in the same period.
Strategia Investment Co. has posted a net profit of KD 441,289 and earnings per share 2.94 fils in the first half of 2011 as against net loss of KD 122,613 and loss per share of 8.2 fils in same period last year.
Jeeran Holding Co. has logged KD 754.365 earning in the for the 3 Months ended 31 May 2011 and earning per share stood at 5.51 fils as against net profit of KD 469,187 and earnings per share of 3.43 fils in the same period in 2010.

Meanwhile KSE has announced the suspension of shares of 38 companies with effect from Aug 16, 2011 for failing to submit the financial results in the stipulated time. They include , International Financial Advisors , Coast Investment and Development Company, International Investor Company, Securities House Company Industrial and Financial Inv Co, Securities Group Company, International Finance Company, Kuwait and Middle East Fin Inv Company, International Investment Group, Aref Investment Group, Investment Dar Company, Al Aman Investment Co, First Investment Co, Aayan Leasing and Investment Company, GulfInvest International Co, Kuwait Financing and Investment Co, International Leasing and Investment Co, Al Madar Finance and Investment Co, Al-Safat Investment Co, Noor Financial Investment, Al-Qurain Holding Co, Strategia Investment Co. Al-Masar Leasing and Investment Co, Al Dar National Real Estate Co, Grand Real Estate Projects Co and Safat Global Holding besides other cos.