KUWAIT CITY, Feb 1: Kuwait stocks kicked off the month on dull note after closing January with modest gains. The index pulled 12.7 points lower stemming the 4-day advance as profit taking weighed on some of the counters. The heavyweights remained range bound even as the investors await the election outcome.
The bourse wound up at 5856.4 points trimming deeper losses earlier in the session while weighted index inched 0.6 points lower to 404.51. The volume slid below the 300 million mark reflecting the cautious mood in the trading floor. 208.42 million shares changed hands — down 31.5 percent from Tuesday. The volume has been on upswing in the second half of the last month and had hit a multi-month high of 420.81 million on 25th January.

National Investment Co dropped 4 fils to KD 0.164 while International Financial Advisers eased 2 fils to KD 0.050. Investment major KIPCO however edged 5 fils higher after stagnating in the previous session. The stock had shed 10 fils during last month.
Among other notable decliners, Combined Group Contracting Co dived 40 fils to KD 1.520 and Burgan Well Drilling Co eased 10 fils to KD 0.200. National Industries Group slipped 2 fils to KD 0.222 after trading 1.34 million shares and Gulf Cables shed 20 fils with thin volume. Jazeera Airways was off 15 fils at KD 0.455 and ALAFCO closed 5 fils lower.
Bourse heavyweight Zain bucked the trend to gain 10 fils and wound up at KD 0.850 with a volume of 1.58 million shares. Wataniya Telecom closed flat at KD 2.000 after pulling lower in the previous session whereas Agility was down 5 fils at KD 0.365.

Dropped
Kuwait Remal Real Estate Co dropped 25 fils and Mabanee Co was down 10 fils at KD 0.850. National Real Estate Co slipped 4 fils whereas Salhiya Real Estate Co took in 2 fils.
The market opened weak and slipped into red in early trade. The index continued to drift lower as investors booked profit on select counters and bottomed at 5847.9 points almost half way into the session. It clawed back to trim the losses in the final minutes and closed with moderate losses.
Top gainer of the day, NAPESCO soared 7.9 percent to KD 0.375 and Ektittab climbed 6.02 percent to stand next. Remal Real Estate Co slid 7.9 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while Hits Telecom topped the volume with 37.44 million shares.
The market spread was skewed towards the loers. 21 stocks advanced while 46 closed lower. Of the 101 counters active on Wednesday, 33 closed flat. 3133 deals worth KD 25.95 million were transacted — down 22.7 percent in value from day before.

In the banking sector Commercial Bank fell 10 fils to KD 0.740 while Gulf Bank was down 5 fils at KD 0.485 adding to an identical fall on Tuesday. The stock had shed 25 fils during January after falling 60 fils during whole of 2011.
Al Ahli Bank eased 10 fils to wind up at KD 0.670 whereas National Bank of Kuwait held the ground unchanged at KD 1.180. The lender had shown a slight growth in 2011 profits. The bank’s top-line matched our expectations, however non-interest income was slightly higher than our forecast on account of investment gains and income from associates,” Reuters quoted Naveed Ahmed, senior financial analyst at Global Investment House earlier in the week.
Burgan Bank rose 5 fils while Al Ahli United Bank fell 10 fils to KD 0.890. 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 Finance House was unchanged at KD 0.860 off early lows and saw a volume turnover of 2.56 million shares while Kuwait International Bank ticked 2 fils higher. Boubyan Bank added 10 fils to settle at KD 0.590.

Eased
International Finance Co eased 4 fils and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) edged 2 fils lower. Al Maal stagnated at 52 fils and Al Tamdeen Investment Co followed suit. The company has obtained the approval of Capital Market Authority to extend buying back a maximum of 10 percent of its shares for a period of 6 months ending on April 16, 2012.
The bourse has been mixed during the holiday curtailed week. It closed lower in 3 of the 4 sessions and rose 4.2 points week-on-week. The benchmark had climbed 54.9 pts during whole of January amid political uncertainties. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, NBK Capital, the investment banking arm of the lender, is selling its stake in Saudi fleet leasing and car rental firm Hanco and may also cash out in an initial public offering for its Turkish investment Kilic Deniz. Alargan International Real Estate Co announced obtaining the Money Markets Authority to issue bonds up to KD 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.