KUWAIT CITY, Sept 26: Kuwait stocks clawed back Monday, stemming the 3-day decline spurred by slump in regional and global markets. The index climbed 22.6 points after a wobbly start led by select bank scrips. Some of the mid-priced stocks too revved up on bargain buying even as blue chips remained largely muted. The bourse wound up at 5,872.4 points while the weighted index rose 2.26 points to settle at 410.36. The volume turnover receded after swelling past the 200 mark in the day before as investors remained wary of the market direction. 190.22 million shares changed hands — down 7.3 percent from Thursday. The volume had hit a multi-month high of 3.37 million on Sep13 but trended lower thereafter. Among prominent gainers, Kuwait Finance House rose 10 fils to KD 0.910 and Burgan Bank followed suit. It closed at KD 0.475 and saw 1.18 million shares change hands. Ahli United Bank climbed 30 fils to KD 0.940.

Investment major KIPCO added 5 fils on back of 1.29 million shares after closing lower in the previous session. Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) was up 2 fils at 59 fils and Al Tamdeen Investment Co gained 4 fils.
National Industries Group rose 4 fils with a volume turnover of 3 million shares to end at KD 0.220. The stock had shed 7.41 percent in August and is trading 20 fils higher from start of the month. Kuwait Cement Co jumped 40 fils with thin trading and Kuwait Portland Cement Co was up 20 fils at KD 1.060.
Bourse heavyweight Zain recovered early losses to close unchanged at KD 0.970 with a volume turnover of 1.12 million shares. A Kuwaiti court on Sunday nullified Zain’s annual shareholders meeting which was held in April , upholding a case filed by a former board member who opposed the election process.

Rose
Agility rose 5 fils to end at KD 0.315 and Wataniya Telecom held the ground unchanged at KD 1.940 after trading higher earlier in the session.
Global Investment House inched 0.5 fils lower amid heavy trading extending the heavy losses on Sunday. It settled at 34 fils and saw a volume turnover of 11.04 million. The investment banker is seeking to defer the principal repayments on debt due in December as part of renegotiating a $1.7 billion restructuring agreement.
The market opened weak and pulled sharply lower in early trade as investors exited positions after the steep losses in the previous session. The index bottomed at 5828.2 points and rebounded thereafter as buying picked up in select counters. It climbed steadily in the second half to peak at 5873.2 points and closed with modest gains.

“There’s not too much going on — the majority of the upside came from a few stocks, but Zain impacted the market,” Reuters quoted a Kuwait-based trader on condition of anonymity. “From now till end of month, the market will trade in an upward trend,” he added.
Top gainer of the day of the day, Munshaat Real Estate Projects spiked 9.8 percent to 28 fils while Gulf Petroleum Investment Co climbed 7.9 percent to stand next. Safwan Trading and Contracting Co tumbled 13.33 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while International Financial Advisers ( IFA) topped the volume with 26.56 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 loss per share of 17.86 fils in the same period last year.
The market spread was skewed towards the gainers. 54 stocks advanced while 12 closed lower. Of the 97 counters active on Monday, 29 closed flat. 2755 deals worth KDD 19.755 million were transacted — down 22.3 percent in value from the previous session.

Gains
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait stagnated at KD 1.060 paring moderate gains earlier in the session and Gulf Bank too was unchanged at KD 0.500. The lender earlier in the month has won the approval of the Central Bank of Kuwait to buy back a maximum of 10 percent of its issued shares for a period of 6 months starting from the expiry of the current approval on Oct 14, 2011. Commercial Bank of Kuwait was steady at KD 0.820 and Al Ahli Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.630. Kuwait International Bank rose 5 fil on back of 3.4 million shares and Boubyan Bank was flat at KD 0.600.
National Investment Company ticked 2 fils lower and Al Safat Investment followed suit to wind up at 84 fils. Al Maal eased 3 fils to KD 0.059. National Real Estate Co and Tamdeen Real Estate Co rose 2 fils each to end at KD 0.074 and KD 0.230 while Mabanee Co climbed 10 fils.

The bourse has been weak so far during the week and has dropped 44 points from last week close. The benchmark has gained 81 points since start of the month but 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, 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.
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.