KUWAIT CITY, Sept 25: Kuwait stocks witnessed broad decline Sunday as it tracked weakness in regional markets. The index slid 66.4 points, the biggest single day loss so far during the month, led by large and mid caps. The sentiments were markedly bearish even as investors offloaded positions in a bid to minimize losses. The bourse wound up at 5849.80 points paring deeper losses earlier in the day, while the weighted index dropped 5.21 points to close at 408.1 points. The volume turnover swelled 31.8 percent to 205.23 million after receding in the previous session. The market had slipped below the 6000 mark on Sept 18 investors toed caution after the political protest last week. Global Investment House tumbled 11.4 percent (5 fils) to settle at 34.5 fils The investment banker has asked its creditors to defer the principal repayments on debt due in December as part of renegotiating a $1.7 billion restructuring agreement.

“They haven’t been able to reach an agreement yet — people are disappointed after their aggressive positive news (earlier this year) when they reached an agreement,” Reuters quoted says Talal al-Loghani, vice-president for Gulf equity markets at Kuwait Finance and Investment Co.
Zain dropped 10 fils to KD 0.970 with a volume turnover of 4.84 million shares. A Kuwaiti court has nullified Zain’s April annual shareholders meeting on Sunday, upholding a case filed by a former board member who opposed the election process.
Agility slid 15 fils to KD 0.310 after trading 2.19 million shares. The stock had shed 10.17 percent in August and is trading 45 fils higher so far during the month. Wataniya Telecom dived 40 fils to KD 1.940 after stagnating in the previous session.

Slid
Among other notable decliners, Commercial Bank of Kuwait slid 30 fils to end at KD 0.820 and Kuwait Finance House eased 10 fils adding to an identical fall on Thursday. Burgan Bank closed 10 fils lower at KD 0.465 with a volume turnover of 2.02 million shares and Ahli United Bank too was down by same measure.
National Investment Co fell 10 fils to settle at KD 0.200 and KIPCO followed suit to close at KD 0.315. The counter saw 0.44 million shares change hands. The stock had shed 9.86 percent in August and is down 5 fils so far during the month.
National Industries Group retreated 6 fils to KD 0.216 after trading 3.04 million shares while Kuwait Pipes and Kuwait Cement Co lost 10 fils each to settle at KD 0.152 and KD 0.510 respectively. Gulf Cables declined 60 fils while Kuwait Portland Cement sank 40 fils to close at KD 1.040.

The market opened weak and slipped below the red in early trade. The index saw moderate uptick but retreated again as selling intensified in select counters. It bottomed at 5837.9 points but managed to trim the losses slightly in the final minutes.
Top gainer of the day, Gulf Petroleum Investment Co climbed 8.6 percent to 31.5 fils while Safat Energy rose 5.4 percent to stand next. Global Investment House was the steepest decliner of the day while Safat Energy topped the volume with 29.04 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s sharp decline, the losers vastly outled the winners. 7 stocks advanced while a whopping 72 closed lower. Of the 97 counters active on Sunday, 17 closed flat. 2989 deals worth KD 25.199 million were transacted - a 36 percent jump in value from the previous session.
In the banking sector Gulf Bank fell 10 fils to KD 0.500 after stagnating on Thursday. The lender has won the approval of the Central Bank of Kuwait to buy back a maximum of 10% of its issued shares for a period of 6 months.

Unchanged
National Bank of Kuwait held the ground unchanged at KD 1.060 and saw a volume turnover of 1.3 million shares. Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session. Kuwaiti shareholder Mohammad Yousuf Behbehani earlier last week 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.
Kuwait Financial Center slipped 6 fils to KD 0.106 and Bayan Investment inched 0.5 fils lower. International Financial Advisers however ticked 0.5 fils up on back of 14.1 million shares. The company has posted a first half net loss of KD 3,822,539 and loss per share of 5.70 fils.
Al Safat Investment bucked the trend to gain 4 fils with a volume turnover of 7.24 million shares whereas Al Tamdeen Investment shed 8 fils. Al Mal Investment eased 5 fils. The company has incurred loss of KD 8,919,361 and loss per share of 16.88 fils in the first six months of 2011.

The bourse was negative during last week. It closed lower in four of the five sessions and dived 111 points week-on-week. The benchmark r is up 68 points since start of the month but is 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, Zain Iraq, a unit of Kuwait’s Zain said that it was moving forward in the process to be listed on the local bourse after it missed an Aug. 31 deadline for offering its shares. The operator has said it would soon list 25 percent of its shares on the Iraq Stock Exchange, in line with a requirement of the $1.25 billion licence it secured in 2007.
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.
Kuwait Stock Exchange has barred the following companies with from trading in the bourse for failing to pay annual subscription fee of 2011/2012:
International Leasing and Investment Co, National International Holding Co, Pearl of Kwt Real Est Co, Investors Holding Group Co, Grand Real Estate Projects Co, Kuwait Business Town Real Estate Co, Refrigeration Ind. and Storage Company, Mena Holding Co, Villa Moda Life.