KUWAIT CITY, Jan 15; Kuwait stocks covered more ground after ending last week on a positive note. The index climbed 18.5 points in choppy trade led by select banking and investment scrips. The trading floor remained skittish even as the investors await the earnings. The bourse wound up at 5765.40 points pulling up from a shallow trough earlier in the day, while weighted index added 3.2 pts to end at 402.06. The volume swelled further after hitting a 4-month high in the previous session. 3.73 million shares changed hands — a 17.2 percent rise from the day before. KSE had edged 0.04 percent higher in whole of December and has been drifting range bound so far during the month.

National Bank of Kuwait gained 20 fils on back of 5.3 million shares to end at KD 1.140 after stagnating on Thursday. Kuwait Finance House followed suit to wind up at KD 0.880. The counter saw 1.21 million shares change hands. Bourse heavyweight Zain rose 10 fils to KD 0.870 recouping the fall in the last session while Agility held the ground unchanged at KD 0.375 with a volume turnover of 3.34 million shares. Wataniya Telecom too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 1.940. The stock had gained 40 fils during whole of 2011. Among other advancers, KIPCO rose 5 fils after stagnating in the last session and National Investment Co was up 2 fils at KD 0.164 on back of 1.96 million shares. The company has posted a 79.7% drop in net earnings to KD 1.26 million in the third quarter as compared to KD 6.22 million in year-earlier period.

Rose
Kuwait Financial Centre followed suit to end at KD 0.106 and First Investment Co rose 4 fils with a volume turnover of 1.48 million to wind up at KD 0.112. Al Maal Investment Co was flat at 47 fils while Bayan Investment ticked 1 fils higher. National Industries Group rose 4 fils on back of 2.84 million shares and Kuwait Portland Cement added 10 fils to end at KD 0.720. NIG had shed 15 fils during December and is down 36 fils so far during the month. The market opened flat but slipped into red in early trade. The index hit the day’s lowest level of 5739.6 points and ticked up thereafter amid buying in select counters. It hovered above the opening mark before winding up at the highest level.

Top gainer of the day, Qurain Holding Co spiked 10.52 percent to 21 fils while Ekttitab Holding climbed 10 percent to stand next. Hits Telecom slid 6.17 percent, the worst performer of the day and the counter topped the volume with 54.68 million shares changing hands.
Reflecting the day’s gain, the market spread was skewed towards the winners. 39 stocks advanced while 28 closed lower. Of the 97 counters active on Sunday, 29 closed flat. 3910 deals worth KD 35.015 million were transacted — a 34.5 percent jump in value from day before.

On the downside Combined Group Contracting Co dropped 20 fils to KD 1.500. The company has signed a 3-year contract worth $ 94,021,914 with The Ministry of Communications in The Republic of Tajikistan.
IFA Hotels and Resorts Co eased 5 fils to end at KD 0.440 and Qurain Petrochemical pulled 4 fils lower to KD 0.210. Safwan Trading and Contracting Co was down 10 fils at KD 0.520 and Kuwait Gulf Links edged 1 fils lower after stagnating in the previous session.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank rose 5 fils to KD 0.495 with a volume of 1.24 million shares. Standard & Poor’s early in December has upgraded Gulf Bank’s long-term credit rating of BBB- to BBB, and raised the Bank’s outlook from stable to positive.

Climbed
Al Ahli Bank was unchanged at KD 0.650 whereas Commercial Bank of Kuwait was not traded during the day. Ahli United Bank climbed 20 fils to settle at KD 0.850 after trading in red earlier in the day. Fitch Ratings has affirmed AUB’S Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BBB+’ and Viability Rating (VR) at ‘bbb+’. The Outlook on the Long-term IDR is Stable. Kuwait International Bank slipped 4 fils after trading 2.94 million shares and Burgan Bank was unchanged at KD 0.465. The stock had added 10 fils during December and has eased by same measure so far during the month. Boubyan Bank closed flat at KD 0.590. Al Madina For Finance and Investment Co rose 5 fils on back of over 13 million shares whereas KAMCO closed flat at KD 0.244. Al Tamdeen Investment Co gained 6 fils The company has obtained the approval of Capital Market Authority to extend buying back a maximum of 10% of its shares for a period of 6 months ending on April 16, 2012. National Real Estate Co rose 4 fils while Mabanee Co climbed 10 fils to KD 0.860. Kuwait Remal Real Estate Co gained jumped 25 fils with a volume turnover of over 9 million shares.

The bourse traded range bound last week. It closed higher in 2 of the 5 sessions and gained 20 pts week-on-week. The index has retreated 48.8 pts so far during the month after eking marginal rise in December. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region. In the bourse related news, Alargan International Real Estate Co. announced obtaining the Money Markets Authority to issue bonds up to KWD 26.5 Mill divided over 2 portions with a maturity of 5 years.
KSE has lifted the ban on trading of Ekttitab Holding Co.’s share with effect from January 4, 2012. This move follows the fall in shareholders’ holding following the reduction of capital from KD 51,700,000 to KD 22,862,423. The bourse authorities have announced suspension of Burgan Well Drilling Co. with effect from January 2, 2012 for failing to pay annual membership fee for 2011/2012.

KSE listed companies have logged a 3.2 percent decline in third quarter profit to hit KD 923 million, according to Al Joman Center for Economic Consultancy. Investment sector, the biggest decliner , saw a 98 percent drop in earnings followed by the real estate sector which eroded 19 percent.
Al Safat Real Estate Co has posted a net loss of KD 1,435,068 and loss per share of 5.98 fils in the first nine-months of the year as compared to a net loss of KD 745,249 and loss per share of 3.11 fils in the same period last year. Al Aman Investment Co has posted a net loss of KD 1,581,185 and loss per share 3.3 fils in the nine-month period ending Sep 30. This compares with net profit of KD 738,187 and earnings per share of 1.5 fils in the same period last year.