KUWAIT CITY, Dec 8: Kuwait stocks nudged higher Thursday, to end week on an upbeat note. The benchmark rose 3.6 points in volatile trade led by select blue chips even as profit taking weighed on some of the mid-caps. The investors remained cautiously positive in absence of tangible indicators and the ongoing political impasse. The bourse wound up at 5,867.00 points after trading in red during most part of the session while the weighted index fell 0.52 points to settle at 413. The volume turnover dropped 23.9 percent to 196.12 million after hitting a two-month high in the previous session. The bourse had retreated 1.82 percent during November snapping the gains in the previous two months.
Agility rose 5 fils recouping the drop on Wednesday. The stock closed at KD 0.395 and saw a volume turnover of 1.04 million. Wataniya Telecom climbed 20 fils to KD 1.960 off early lows whereas Zain continued to stagnate for the third consecutive day.

International Financial Advisors inched 1 fils higher to 46 fils on back of a whopping 62.1 million shares and Kuwait Financial Center ( Markaz) took in 2 fils. Bayan Investment House rose 2.5 fils on back of 7.6 million shares whereas Al Mal Investment Co held the ground unchanged at 57 fils.
National Real Estate Co climbed 8 fils to KD 0.154 with a volume turnover of 9.08 million. The stock has gained 14 fils from start of the month but is trading lower year-to-date. Mazaya Holding Co was up 3 fils at 61 after closing flat in the previous session.

Gainers
Among other notable gainers, Combined Group Contracting Co jumped 40 fils to wind up at KD 0.480 and Independent Petroleum Group rose 10 fils. Safwan Trading and Contracting Co was up 20 fils with thin trade. The market opened on choppy note and moved higher in early trade. The index hit the day’s highest level of 5868.7 points but retreated thereafter as profit taking kicked in. The slipped below the red and drifted in narrow range before bottoming at 5853.5 points in the final minutes. The market however managed to claw back to the positive region at close. Top gainer of the day, Al Rai Media Group climbed 7.9 percent to KD 0.136 while Bayan Investment rose 7.1 percent to stand next. Wethaq Takaful Insurnce Co slid 10.98 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while International Financial Advisors topped the volume.

The market spread was almost evenly skewed. 31 stocks advanced while 30 closed lower. Of the 100 counters active on Thursday, 38 closed flat. 1960 deals worth KD 20.56 million were transacted - down 50 percent in value from the day before.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank fell 10 fils to KD 0.510 whereas National Bank of Kuwait closed flat at KD 1.160 off early lows. The stock had added 20 fils so far during the month and is trading flat since start of the year. Kuwait International Bank closed flat whereas Commercial Bank of Kuwait and Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait both were not traded during the day.
Burgan Bank was unchanged at KD 0.470 whereas Kuwait Finance House slipped 10 fils to KD 0.900 after trading 1.08 million shares. The Islamic lender has logged KD 25.3 million net profit in the third quarter — a 4.7 percent fall from same period last year. Boubyan Bank stagnated at KD 0.600.
National Investment Co slipped 2 fils to KD 0.196 and KIPCO was flat at KD 0.196. The company has posted a 73 percent drop in third-quarter profit. The profit stood at KD 7.1 million while consolidated assets fell 3 per cent to KD 5.49 billion. Al Tamdeen Investment Co was steady at KD 0.156.

Dropped
Mabanee Co dropped 10 fils to KD 0.880 and Salhiya Real Estate Co was unchanged at KD 0.200. Tamdeen Real Estate Co rose 4 fils . The company has posted a 5.4% rise in net earnings to KD 3.9 million during the first nine months of 2011 while earnings per share stood at 10.4 fils per share. In the third-quarter profit surged 3640 percent. Sultan Center Food Products Company rose 8 fils on back of 3.92 million shares. The company has logged net losses of KD 5.6 million or 10 fils per share, for the first nine months of 2011. The shareholders equity came in at KD 67.3 million while assets totaled KD 318.2 million.

ALAFCO was flat at KD 0.330 5 fils whereas Jazeera slipped 5 fils. The company has posted a net profit of KD 6.1 million in third quarter, up 36 percent from last year while in the first nine-months it posted a net profit of KD 9.2 million. The bourse had been largely upbeat during the week. It closed higher in 3 of the 5 sessions gaining 16.8 points. It has shed 55.4 points from start of the month and 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, the Kuwait bourse authorities have halted trading in Global Investment House saying its accumulated losses to the end of September had exceeded 75 percent of its capital, contravening market rules.

Global has posted a net loss of KD 54,224,000 and loss per share of 44 fils in the nine-months period ending September 2011 as against net loss of KD 46,241,000 and loss per share of 38 fils in the same period last year. International Finance Co announced has posted net loss of KD 4,609,831 and loss per share of 7.42 fils in the first six months of the year as against net loss of KD 3,654,802 and loss per share of 7.86 fils in the same period last year. Aref Investment Group (AIG) announced that Developmental Projects Holding Company, fully owned by Kuwait Finance House, has made an offer to acquire AIG’s 72 percent share in Aref Energy Company for a total value of KD 73,090,697. Refrigeration Ind and Storage Co has posted a net loss of KD 1,825,879 and loss per share of 20.62 fils as compared to net profit of KD 339,396 earnings per share of 3.8 fils in the same period last year.