Kuwait benchmark heads south in ‘volatile’ trading – Zain dips 17 fils; NBK flat

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KUWAIT CITY, Oct 29: Kuwait stocks slipped into red on Sunday as it opened the week on a sluggish note. The price index dropped 15.74 points in volatile trade to 6,607.75 points after treading water in the last session. The telecom major sagged while the banks remained subdued.

The KSX 15 benchmark dipped 7.23 pts to 990.95 pts paring the year’s gains to 105 points whereas weighted index added 2.22 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile ebbed from last session’s one-week high. 78.4 million shares changed hands — down 1 18.26 pct from Thursday.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 0.71 percent gain whereas telecommunications shed 1.19 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, financial services mustered the highest market share of 42.3 percent and real estate trailed with 26.4 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, Burgan Bank fell 3 fils to 345 fils and Kuwait Finance House clipped 2 fils before settling at 598 fils. Mabanee Co gave up 3 fils and Humansoft Holding, the highest priced stock in the bourse, tumbled 48 fils.

Zain, after announcing its Q3 earnings late last week, dipped 17 fils to 499 fils with a volume of over 10 million while Ooredoo slid 45 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) took in 2 fils and Agility was down 7 fils at 834 fils.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait was flat at 395 fils and National Bank of Kuwait followed suit. The bank’s profits rose 7.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2017 from KD 68.65 million Q3 of 2016.

The market opened firm and ticked up in early trade. The price index scaled the day’s highest level of 6636 pts and drifted sideways for most part of the first half. It headed south thereafter as sentiment turned weak and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6587 pts before clawing back some of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day. BIHC climbed 8.11 pct to 44 fils while Tahsillat was up 7.4 percent to stand next. Gulf Finance House slid 8.57 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding Group topped the volume with 11.5 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s downswing, the losers outnumbered the winners. 37 stocks advanced and 55 closed lower. Of the 113 counters active on Sunday, 21 closed flat. 2767 deals worth KD 13.2 million were transacted – down 26 pct in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was flat at 149 fils after trading over 2 million shares and Gulf Cable was up 2 fils at 484 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co shed 10 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was down 4 fils at 326 fils.

Jazeera Airways was unchanged at 640 fils and ALAFCO rose 4 fils to 397 fils. ACICO Industries rose 5 fils to 263 fils and Equipment Holding Co eased 1.7 fils to 38.6 fils. Metal and Recycling Co climbed 7 fils to 109 fils.

Rose

Kuwait Foundry Co rose 4 fils to 302 fils and Educational Holding Group climbed 7 fils. Burgan Well Drilling Co and OSOS was unchanged at 70 fils and 109 fils respectively whereas KCPC gave up 5 fils. Mashaer clipped 2 fils.

NAPESCO jumped 24 fils to 824 fils and Al Rai Media Group gained 7 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co stood pat at 61 fils and KGL Logistics Co inched 0.1 fil into red. Mezzan Holding paused at 830 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank eased 1 fil to 250 fils and Ahli United Bank – Kuwait ticked 1 fil lower. The bank has registered a growth of 0.45 pct in profits during the third quarter of from Q2, 2016 to KD 13.55 million. In the first nine months , the bank posted a profit of KD 40.04 m.

Al Ahli Bank inched 1 fil up to 313 fils and Kuwait International Bank trimmed 1 fil. Commercial Bank held ground at 395 fils.

Warba Bank gave up 1 fil and Boubyan Bank fell 2 fils to 456 fils. The bank’s profits rose 13.8 pct to KD 12.2 m in the July-September period , as compared to KD 10.72 million in the year-ago period. In the first nine months , it recorded a 15 pct rise in earnings to KD 34.07 mln.

Kuwait Investment Co rose 5 fils to 127 fils and Commercial Facilities Co was up 4 fils at 179 fils. KIPCO was unchanged at 351 fils and Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) too did not budge from its earlier close of 110 fils.

KAMCO trimmed 0.5 fil while Al Deera Holding and Noor Financial Centre paused at 32 fls and 61 fils respectively. National Investment Co gave up 2 fils and International Financial Advisors ticked 0.4 fil up.

Bayan Investment Co slipped 0.9 fil to 45 fils and Securities House Co added 0.3 fil. Tamdeen Investment Co dipped 6 fils and Al Imtiaz gave up 2 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co was down 11 fils at 275 fils.

United Real Estate Co rose 3 fils to 82 fils and Mazaya Holding trimmed 2 fils. Kuwait Real Estate Co was flat at 61.5 fils and National Real Estate Co closed 1 fil in green.

The bourse was mixed during last week. It closed lower in two of the five sessions and shed 10 pts week-on-week. The index has slid 71 pts from start of the month and has rallied 14.96 pct year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Alrai Media Group has incurred loss of KD 143,000 in the third quarter of 2017. During the first nine months , the company registered a decline of 49 percent in earnings to KD 1.5 million compared to KD 2.94 million in the same period last year.

Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) has clocked a 1 pct rise in third quarter profits to KD 1.445 million from the same period last year. In the January-September period the earnings jumped 28.2 percent to KD 5.058 million.

Gulf Bank of Kuwait’s total shareholders’ equity stood at KD 591.2 million by the end of September 2017. The net revenue from interest totaled KD 97.2 mln in January — September period while operating profits stood at KD 89.7 million. Public provisions amounted to KD 225 million, accounting for 38 pct of the total shareholders’ equity.

Aqar Real Estate Investments Co’s earnings was down 6.42 pct year-on-year during the third quarter of 2017 to KD 345,140 .In the January-September period, profits rose 11.5 percent to KD 1.03 million. The operating revenues rose 14.6 pct to KD 1.48 million in nine-month period.

Credit Rating and Collection Co’s (Tahssilat) losses widened to KD 269,840 in the third quarter of 2017 from KD 61,020 in the same period last year. During the nine-month period, it logged a profit of KD 830,200 against a loss of KD 291,200 in the same period in 2016.

By John Mathews – Arab Times Staff

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