KUWAIT CITY, Feb 21: Kuwait stocks saw moderate pull-back Tuesday, stemming the three-day advance.
The index slipped 16.5 points in volatile trade as profit taking dragged most of the heavyweights. Selling was also seen in some of the mid and small caps even as trading floor sentiment turned skittish.
KSE wound up at 6,098.20 points reversing the early gains while the weighted index eased 1.66 points to 408.77. The volume turnover rose further after breaching the 1,000 million mark in the previous session. It rose 9.3 percent to 1,159.28 million adding to the increase in last two sessions. The market had breached the 6,000 mark on 14th and has been holding above the mark since last 3 sessions buoyed by speculative interest mostly in small and mid-level stocks.

Wataniya Telecom shed 40 fils reversing the gains on Monday and wound up at KD 2.000 while Agility eased 5 fils to KD 0.390. The counter saw 1.49 million shares change hands. Bourse heavyweight Zain however held the ground unchanged at KD 0.860 off early lows with a volume turnover of 5.6 million shares.
Among other decliners, National Industries Group fell 4 fils to KD 0.228 after trading 4.14 million shares. The stock has added 4 fils from start of the month and is trading 22 fils lower year-to-date. Safwan Trading and Contracting Co slid 40 fils and Kuwait Food Co (Americana) dropped 20 fils to end at KD 1.420.
Egypt Kuwait Holding Co was down 15 fils at KD 0.315 while Hits Telecom pulled 10 fils lower to KD 0.100 after trading 5.32 million shares. Kuwait Gulf Links edged 4fils lower to KD 0.104 and Aref Energy followed suit to end at KD 0.102.

Jumped
On the upside, Kuwait Portland Cement Co jumped 50 fils on back of 1.12 million shares to end at KD 0.430 and Gulf Cables rose 20 fils. Independent Petroleum Group climbed 15 fils to KD 0.310 and Jazeera Airways gained 25 fils and saw a volume turnover of 2.63 million shares.
The market opened positive and crept higher in early trade. The index drifted sideways before peaking at 6,121.2 points almost 90 minutes into the session but retreated thereafter. It slipped below the opening mark as buying pulled some of the counters and bottomed at 6,077.5 points. The market ticked higher to pare the losses slightly in the final minutes and closed with moderate losses.
Top gainer of the day, Safat Real Estate Co spiked 15.15 percent to 19 fils while Al Ahleia Holding rose 12.12 percent to stand next. Hits Telecom slid 9.09 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while Mayadeen topped the volume with 123.04 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s decline, the losers outnumbered the gainers. 37 stocks advanced while 51 closed lower. Of the 101 counters active on Tuesday, 30 closed flat. 10,794 deals worth KD 76.32 million were transacted - up 1.1 percent in value from the day before.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait closed flat at KD 1.180 off early lows and Gulf Bank too did not budge from its previous close of KD 0.485. The stock had shed 20 fils during January and is down 5 fils so far during the month.
Kuwait Finance House dropped 20 fils to KD 0.820 after trading 5.35 million shares while Commercial Bank of Kuwait and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the session. ABK has logged net profit of KD 50.3 million in 2011, while the earnings per share clocked 35 fils. The Board of Directors has recommended a cash dividend of 15% and 5% bonus shares.
Ahli United Bank and Kuwait International Bank stagnated at KD 0.870 and KD 0.250 respectively and Burgan Bank too was flat at KD 0.455. The lender 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.

Climbed
Investment major KIPCO fell 5 fils to KD 0.320 whereas National Investment Co climbed 4 fils to KD 0.170. Kuwait Stock Exchange’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) has approved the request of National Investments Co’s to buy back 10% of its shares for six months till July 3.
Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) and First Investment rose 4 fils each and Al Mal too was up by same measure and the counter saw a volume turnover of 19.9 million shares. Ektittab Holding and Al Madina For Finance and Investment slipped 5 fils each and Al Tamdeen ticked 2 fils higher.
The bourse has been upbeat from start of the week and has climbed 115 points in last three sessions.
The index has rallied 228 pts from start of the month after posting modest rise in January. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

United Industries Co closed flat. UIC has posted annual net profit of KD 1,210,449 for 2011. The earnings per share clocked 2.46 fils and he Board of Directors have recommended no dividend payout.
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 million 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 Jan 2, 2012 for failing to pay annual membership fee for 2011/2012.
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.