KUWAIT CITY, March 14: Kuwait stocks pulled back slightly on Thursday snapping the 13-day rally. The index see-sawed in broad range before losing 2.82 points at close. The market mood was mixed as early session buying alternated with brief selling. The bourse had rallied over 218 points during February buoyed by better than expected earnings and hopes of increased government spending. The KSX 15 measure fell 0.11 points to 1,.71 pts and has retreated almost 10 points so far during the month while weighted index ticked 0.14 points up. The volume turnover meanwhile receded below the 1,000 million mark after hitting a multi-month high on Wednesday. 944.27 million shares changed hands — down 7.76 points from day before.

The sectors swayed marginally in both directions. Consumer goods outperformed the rest with 2.61 percent rise whereas real estate shed 1.45 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, real estate garnered the highest volume share of 46.45 percent while financial services and industrials followed with 37.56 percent and 6.74 percent respectively.
Combined Group soared 60 fils more than recouping the losses in the previous session while Egypt Kuwait Holding Co climbed 20 fils to KD 0.350. Kuwait Portland Cement Co too gained 20 fils and Gulf Cables followed suit to wind up at KD 1.020.
National Industries Group added 4 fils on back of 5.9 million shares to close at KD 0.224. The stock has climbed 8 fils so far during the month while year-to-date, it has gained 10 fils. Kuwait Cement Co dialed up 5 fils and Boubyan Petrochemicals Co rose 10 fils.
Market heavyweight Zain gained 10 fils on back of 1.06 million shares and Wataniya Telecom jumped 20 fils after stagnating in the previous session. Agility held the ground unchanged at KD 0.570 off early lows.

Firm
The market opened firm and moved sideways in early trade. The index crept higher to hit the day’s highest level of 6,775.39 points and retreated thereafter as selling pressure weighed on select counters. It bottomed at 6,704.45 points and managed to claw back most of the losses in the final minutes.
Top gainer of the month, MENA Holding Co rallied 9.62 percent to 57 fils and PAPCO rose 9.43 percent to stand next. Investors Holding Group slid 9.43 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, and Gulf Finance House topped the volume with 181.87 million shares.
The market spread was skewed towards the losers. 55 stocks advanced whereas 64 closed lower. Of the 163 counters active on Thursday, 44 closed flat. 11,709 deals worth KD 65.11 million were transacted — down 8.33 percent in value from the day before.
On the flip side, Kuwait Food Co (Americana) dropped 20 fils to KD 1.800 extending an identical loss in the previous session. The stock has shed 40 fils so far during the month while year-to-date, it has gained 60 fils. Kuwait Gulf Links eased 4 fils to KD 0.126 and Burgan Well Drilling Co fell 2 fils.
“We expect the market to continue its cautious uptrend rally — the market is in need of a healthy fundamental correction after the continuous increase in 10 consecutive trading sessions in order for new entrants in the market,” Reuters quoted Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House earlier in the week.

Metal and Recycling Co slipped 6 fils and Jazeera Airways was down 5 fils at KD 0.400. Kuwait Foundry Co however was flat at KD 0.290 and United Industries Co followed suit. UIC has posted a net profit of KD 3.34 million and earnings per share of 7.07 fils in 2012. The Board of Directors has recommended a 5 percent cash dividend payout.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 10 fils to KD 0.910 while Gulf Bank was unchanged at KD 0.410 after trading 3.4 million shares. Commercial Bank held steady at KD 0.680 and Al Ahli Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.590.
Kuwait International Bank rose 5 fils to KD 0.295 and Ahli United Bank added 10 fils. AUB earlier in the year sold 37,374,000 shares of Al-Ahli Bank of Qatar’s at 60 rials/ share with a total value of QAR 2,242,440,000. The company has realized a profit of QAR 775,227,154.

Down
Kuwait Finance House slipped 10 fils to KD 0.810 and Boubyan Bank too was down by same measure. The bank has recorded KD 10.05 million net profit and earnings per share 5.75 fils in the full year 2012 and the Board of Directors have recommended a dividend payout of 5 percent bonus shares. Burgan Bank closed flat at KD 0.540.
Kuwait Investment Co fell 2 fils to KD 0.112 and International Financial Advisors inched 1 fils lower with a volume of 7.4 million shares. National Investment Co see-sawed before closing unchanged at KD 0.156 whereas KIPCO gained 20 fils. The stock has added 25 fils so far during the month while year-to-date, it has jumped 50 fils.
Securities House Co rose 10 fils on back of 7.6 million shares and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) pulled 6 fils lower. First Investment slipped 2 fils and Al Mal clipped 2.5 fils after trading 9.4 million shares. Bayan Investment took in 2.5 fils. National Real Estate Co dropped 4 fils and Mabanee Co retreated 20 fils to close at KD 1.200. IFA Hotels and Resorts climbed 15 fils.
Osoul Investment Co rose 2 fils and Kuwait Financing and Investment Co gained 5 fils. KAMCO was up 2 fils while Ekttitab Holding Co erased 2 fils. The company has completed the subscription for increasing its capital on March 6, 2013. The remaining unsubscribed shares will be offered for the new shareholders during March 7-23, 2013 at the company’s headquarter.

The bourse has been positive during the week. It closed higher in four of the five sessions and gained 158 points week-on-week. The index has spiked 269.49 points so far during the month and is trading over 13 percent higher year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Kuwait China Investment Co has recorded a net profit of KD 5.19 million and earnings per share of 6.69 fils in 2012 rebounding from KD 9,279,458 loss and 11.94 fils loss per share last year.
Arkan Al-Kuwait Real Estate Co has logged net profit of KD 585,927 and earnings per share of 2.6 fils in the three months ending Dec 31, 2012. This compares with KD 301,823 earnings and 1.3 fils EPS in the same period last year.
Egypt Kuwait Holding has earned KD 18.92 million in 2012 while earnings per share 22.54 fils. This compares with net profit of KD 37.63 million and earnings per share of 44.84 fils during 2013. The Board of Directors has recommended a cash dividend of cash 10 percent.