KUWAIT CITY, Sept 22: Kuwait stocks eroded further Thursday to wind up week on sour note. The index slid 39.7 points amid negative sentiments led mostly by mid-caps. The heavyweight were largely subdued even as investors toed the sidelines in absence of fresh cues. The bourse had slipped below the 6,000 mark on Tuesday as it reversed last week’s gaining streak. The bourse wound up at 5,916.20 points paring steeper losses earlier in the day while the weighted index edged 1.07 points lower to 413.31. The volume slid below the 200 million mark after posting a modest rise on Wednesday. 155.68 million shares changed hands — down 27.1 percent from the day before. It had hit a multi-month high of 337.86 million on Sep 13, but retreated thereafter.

Zain slipped 10 fils erasing the gains in the day before and wound up at KD 0.980. National Industries Group eased 6 fils to settle at KD 0.222 and Gulf Cables slid 20 fils to end at KD 1.560. Kuwait Portland Cement too was down 20 fils at KD 1.080 while Kuwait Pipes slipped 8 fils after trading 1.3 million shares.
Agility held the ground unchanged at KD 0.325. The stock was buoyed by the media reports earlier in the month that the company is leading an alliance to bid for $240 million stake in Kuwait Airways. Wataniya Telecom too did not move in either direction and wound up at KD 1.980. Among other notable decliners, Kuwait Finance House dropped 10 fils extending an identical fall in the previous session. National Investment Co eroded 4 fils to close at KD 0.210 and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) was down by same measure to end at KD 0.112.

Lower
Bayan Investment edged 1.5 fils lower whereas Global Investment House was not traded during the session. Global is looking to renegotiate the $1.7 billion restructuring agreement it signed with creditors in 2009. Combined Group Contracting Co shed 20 fils and Future Communication followed suit to end at KD 0.295. Jazeera fell 15 fils after posting modest rise in the previous session and Yiaco Medicals eased 10 fils. United Gulf Bank slipped 6 fils with a volume turnover of 1.12 million shares whereas Kuwait Food Co was unchanged at KD 1.500. The stock had lost 2.6 percent in August and is trading flat from start of the month. The market opened flat and move sideways in early trade. The index dropped sharply thereafter and continued to erode as investors exited select positions amid weak sentiments. It hit the day’s lowest level of 5905.1 points and managed to pare the loses slightly in the final minutes. Top gainer of the day. Ajial Real Estate and Entertainment Co jumped 9.2 percent to KD 0.118 and Manafae Investment Co climbed 8.4 percent to stand next. Safwan Trading and Contracting Co dived 16.66 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while International Financial Advisors topped the volume with 15.84 million shares.

IFA has posted a first half net loss of KD 3,822,539 and loss per share of 5.70 fils as against net loss of KD 11,688,074 and l oss per share of 17.86 fils in the same period last year.
Mirroring the day’s decline, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 16 stocks advanced while 49 closed lower. Of the 102 counters active on Thursday, 36 closed flat. 2,376 deals worth KD 18.53 million were transacted — up 9.3 percent in value over previous session.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait was flat at KD 1.060 and Gulf Bank followed suit to settle at KD 0.510. The lender earlier in the month had won the approval of Central Bank of Kuwait to buy back a maximum of 10% of its issued shares for a period of 6 months.

Trend
Commercial Bank of Kuwait bucked the market trend to gain 30 fils and Al Ahli Bank held the ground unchanged at KD 0.630. One of the ABK’s main shareholders, Mohammad Yousuf Behbehani has received central bank’s approval to raise his stake in Al Ahli Bank to 15 percent which will make him the biggest shareholder in the bank.
Ahli United Bank and Kuwait International Bank stagnated at KD 0.920 and KD 0.275 respectively after closing lower in the day before. Burgan Bank vacillated in a narrow range before closing flat at KD 0.475 with a volume turnover of 2.59 million shares and Boubyan Bank to was unchanged at KD 0.600.
Investment major KIPCO rose 10 fils on back of 1.41 million shares whereas Al Maal Investment Co eased 3 fils to wind up at KD 0.067. Al Safat Investment Co stagnated at KD 0.078 whereas Al Tamdeen Investment Co shed 10 fils.
National Real Estate Co edged 2 fils lower and Tamdeen Real Estate Co was down 10 fils after trading 1.14 million shares. Mazaya Holding fell 3 fils while Mabanee Co stagnated at KD 0.830. The stock had shed 10 fils in whole of August and is trading 40 fils higher so far during the month.
The bourse had been bearish during the week. It closed lower in four of the five sessions and slumped 111 points week-on-week. The benchmark has gained 125 points since start of the month and is trading 15 percent lower year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Al-Safat Investment Co has posted a net loss of KD 9,491,858 and loss per share of 12.30 fils in the first half of 2011 as against net loss of KD 1,052,962 and loss per share of 1.36 fils in the same period last year. Burgan Well Drilling Co. has clocked a net profit of KD 253,359 and earnings per share of 1.21 fils in the second quarter ending June 30. This compares with net profit of KD 145,125 and earnings per share of 0.69 fils in 2010 Q2. 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.