Kuwait bourse extends gains; volume ticks up – Ooredoo soars 78 fils; NBK slips

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KUWAIT CITY, July 9 : Kuwait stocks extended its winning spree on Sunday  as it opened the week on a firm note. The price index climbed 43.44 pts in volatile session to 6723.57 pts paced by solid gains in select counters. The banking share mostly sagged while telecom service providers closed higher.

The KSX 15  gauge rose 2.18 pts to 909.5 points taking the year’s gains to 25 points while weighted index edged 1.95 pts higher. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a modest rise following Thursday’s drop. 51.24 million shares changed hands – a 8.3 pct increase from last session.

The sectors closed mostly in the green. Technology outshone the rest with  6.33 pct jump whereas basic materials shed 1.17 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, financial services accounted for a whopping 60.5 percent market share and real estate was far behind with 17.2 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait fell 5 fils to 684 fils extending an identical fall in the last session and Mabanee Co climbed 10 fils to 755 fils. Investment conglomerate KIPCO  took in 1 fils to wind up at 335 fils.

Zain rose 2 fils to 412 fils paring back most of the losses in the last session while Ooredoo  soared 78 fils to KD 1.088 recouping most of the gains in the previous session. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) climbed 20 fils and Agility rallied 23 fils to 749 fils.

Kuwait Finance House added 3 fils and Al Mutahed inched 1 fil higher o 395 fils. The bank’s first quarter profit rose 2.6% to KD 16.003 million as against KD 15.59 million in for Q1 of 2016.

The market opened firm and rose sharply in early trade. The main index moved flat briefly before resuming its climb to peak at 6741.32 points almost half way into the session. It plunged headlong thereafter as sentiment turned sour and bottomed at 6678.26 points before rebounding back into the green at close.

Top gainer of the day, Eyas For Higher and Technical Education soared 13.33 pct to 850 fils and Ream climbed 10.8 percent to stand next. Tahssilat slid 15.6 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with over 12 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gains, the  market spread was skewed towards the  winners.  52 stocks advanced whereas 36 closed lower. Of the 108 counters active on Sunday, 20 closed flat. 2010 deals worth KD 7.25 million were transacted – a 13.6 pct drop in value from the last session.

National Industries Group rose 5 fils to 122 fils on back of over 1 million shares and Gulf Cable gave up 2 fils . Metal and Recycling Co inched 0.9 fil up and Educational Holding Group closed flat at 367 fils.

Jazeera Airways rose 5 fils to 475 fils and ALAFCO paused at 315 fils. The company has posted a 83.3% surge in profits  to KD 5.59 million for the quarter ending 31 March 2017 from year before period .

Eased

Kuwait Foundry Co shed 19 fils and Equipment Holding Co eased 0.4 fil to 48.5 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co added 5 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co stood pat at 334 fils. Automated Systems Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 184 fils.

Burgan Well Drilling Co clipped 2 fils and NAPESCO soared 119 fils to KD 1.609 fils. The company’s first quarter profit surged 62.7% year-on-year to KD 2.31 million as to compared to KWD 1.42 million in same period last year.

OSOS climbed 4 fils to 133 fils and AWJ Holding inched 1 fil lower to 75 fils. Kuwait Cable Vision Co took in 1 fils and Yiaco Medical was up 5 fils at 182 fils. Al Rai Media Group dialed up 2 fils and Salbookh Trading Co edged 1.5 fils up.

In the banking sector,  Gulf Bank eased 1 fil to 237 fils whereas Commercial Bank  and Boubyan Bank took 1 fils each to end at 309 fils and 406 fils respectively.

Burgan Bank fell 1 fil to 332 fils and Kuwait International Bank slipped 4 fils to 245 fils. Warba Bank  gained 5 fils on back of over 1 million shares and Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.

National Investment Co took in 2.1 fils and International Financial Advisors trimmed 0.9 fil after trading 2.7 million shares. Coast Investment Co gave up 0.4 fil and Securities House Co stood pat at 39.5 fils.

Kuwait Financial Centre dialed up 2 fils and Bayan Investment Co was unchanged at 48.7 fils. Aayan edged 0.6 fil up on back of 5.8 million shares and Gulf Investment House closed 1 fils higher at 34 fils. Al Imtiaz rose 5 fils to 166 fils.

KAMCO clipped 1 fil while Noor Financial Investment Co and Tamdeen Investment Co were flat at 50.5 fils and 300 fils respectively. KFIC gave up 4.8 fils and Ektittab Holding added 2.4 fils before ending at 37.5 fils.

Mazaya Holding inched 1 fils higher to 111fils and Remal eased 0.9 fils to 77 fils. First Takaful Insurance Co was up 2.5 fils at 49.5 fils.

The market was mixed during last week. The main index closed higher in three of the five sessions  but was down  82 points week-on-week. It has climbed 61 points so far during the month  and is trading 16.97 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Kuwait Finance and Investment (KFIC) rebounded to post a net profit of KD 146,350 in the first three months of 2017, from KD 255,510 loss in first quarter of 2016. Operating income grew 76% year-on-year to reach KD 1.65 million.

Aayan Real Estate has recorded a 164.7 percent jump  in its profits to KD 536,890 for the first quarter of 2017 from same period in the year before. During 2016, the profit saw a 1.5% uptick to KD 2.75 million in 2016 from the previous year.

Ooredoo Kuwait has posted 26.6 pct jump in profits during the first quarter of 2017 to KD 12.93 million from KD 10.21 million in same period last year. It had recorded a growth of 75% in profits to KD 46.67 million during 2016.

Mowasat Healthcare has registered a a 40.2% increase in net profits in the first quarter of 2017, to reach KD 1.92 million as compared to KD 1.37 million in the year before period.

Al Ahleia Insurance’s first quarter net profit dropped by 14.5% in the first to KD 2.88 million from KD 3.37 million  in Q1 of 2016. Operational income dipped 39.6 pct to KD 1.58 million.

National Ranges Company’s (Mayadeen)  losses shrank by 18.2 pct in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 642,620 from about KWD 785,610 in same period of 2016.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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