KUWAIT CITY, Feb 7: Kuwait stocks pulled lower Tuesday, extending the decline from the previous session. The index eased 13 points in slightly volatile trade dragged by selling in select mid and low caps even as blue chips remained muted. The trading floor sentiment was skittish as investors await cues after the election outcome failed to provide any impetus. The market wound up at 5,827.20 points reversing early gains while weighted index inched 0.17 points lower to settle at 403.99. The volume turnover rose further extending the increase to third consecutive day. 350 million shares changed hands — up 19.4 percent from Monday. It had hit a multi-month high of 420.8 million on Jan 25th and held mostly above the 300 million mark in the second half of January.

National Investment Co fell 4 fils extending an identical loss in the previous session and closed at KD 0.162. National Industries Group, the flagship company of Kharafi Group was down 2 fils at KD 0.218 and the counter saw 1.96 million shares change hands.
Kuwait Gulf Links dropped 4 fils while KGL Logistics Co edged 2 fils lower to KD 0.445. Kout Food Group dived 50 fils to KD 0.520. IFA Hotels and Resorts slipped 5 fils to KD 0.445 and Egypt Kuwait Holding Co followed suit to end at KD 0.285.
Bourse heavyweight Zain held the ground unchanged at KD 0.870 off early lows while Wataniya Telecom held steady at KD 2.000. Agility too did not budge from earlier close of KD 0.365 after posting gains in the previous session following a favorable court verdict.

Higher
National Real Estate Co ticked 2 fils higher to KD 0.122 and Union Real Estate Co rose 10 fils. Ajial Real Estate and Entertainment Co closed 10 fils lower at KD 0.114 whereas Mabanee Co held the ground unchanged at KD 0.850.
The market opened flat and crept higher in early trade. The index hit the day’s highest level of 5,842.2 points but failed to hold on to the gains. It retreated thereafter as selling dominated the trading floor and moved sideways till mid-session. It continued to erode and bottomed at 5,809.7 points in the final minutes before paring the losses slightly at close.
Top gainer of the day, Union Real Estate Co climbed 9.25 percent to KD 0.118 and Marakez rose 9.09 percent to stand next. Kout Food slid 8.7 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while Hits Telecom topped the volume with 72.86 million shares.
The market spread was skewed towards the losers. 24 stocks advanced while 36 closed lower. Of the 103 counters active on Tuesday, 42 closed flat. 5,066 deals worth KD 33.94 million were transacted - a 22.1 percent rise in value from the day before.

In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House rose 10 fils to KD 0.860 while National Bank of Kuwait was unchanged at KD 1.180. NBK Capital, the investment banking arm of the lender, has sold 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.
Gulf Bank stagnated at KD 0.485 whereas Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the day. Ahli United Bank was flat at KD 0.465. Fitch Ratings early in January 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 was steady at KD 0.346 and Burgan Bank too stagnated at KD 0.465. Burgan Bank has won the approval of Central Bank of Kuwait to extend buying back a maximum of 10% of its issued shares for a period of 6 months as of the expiry of the current approval on Feb 5, 2012.

Unchanged
Investment major KIPCO was unchanged at KD 0.325 after trading in red earlier in the session whereas International Financial Advisors added 3 fils on back of 56.48 million shares to end at KD 0.056.
International Finance Co closed flat at KD 0.112 and Kuwait Financial Centre Co followed suit to end at KD 0.104. First Investment Co rose 2 fils while Bayan Investment and Al Safat Investment took in 1 fils each. Ektitab Holding climbed 8 fils on back of 8.46 million shares.
Al Tamdeen Investment Co slipped 2 fils whereas Al Madina For Finance and Investment Co rose 4 fils. Gulf Insurance Co eased 10 fils to KD 0.550 and Ahlia Insurance Co was down 15 fils at KD 0.460
The bourse has been negative so far during the week and has shed 11.5 pts from close of Thursday.

The benchmark has eroded 41.9 pts from start of the month after eking marginal rise in January. 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 Jan 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 Jan 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 Sept 30. This compares with net profit of KD 738,187 and earnings per share of 1.5 fils in the same period last year.