Kuwait bourse heads south; volume shrinks – Commercial Bank drops 25 fils; Zain gains

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KUWAIT CITY, Feb 27: Kuwait stocks sagged on Monday as it kicked off the week after the national holidays. The price index, after a tame start, dropped 28.94 points to 6,780.84 pts amid a moderate round of profit taking led by some of the banking and financial shares. The overall mood was soggy in absence of fresh cues.

The KSX 15 gauge slipped 2.88 pts to 968.83 pts while weighted index gave up 2 points to settle at 425 points. The volume turnover shrank further to plumb month’s lowest level. 213.5 million shares changed hands — a 21.77 pct dip from Thursday.

The sectors closed mixed. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 2.58 pct gain whereas real estate shed 1.18 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, financial services notched the highest market share of 36,6 pct while real followed with 33.5 percent contribution.

Among notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait dipped 10 fils to 730 fils erasing lasts session’s gains while Commercial Bank dived 25 fils to 450 fils. National Investment Co gave up 4 fils ad Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) followed suit to wind up at 95 fils with thin trading.

Zain rose from early lows to close 5 fils higher at 485 fils and Wataniya Telecom (Ooredoo) climbed 20 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) was unchanged at 860 fils and Agility was down 20 fils at 600 fils.

Kuwait Finance House held ground at 620 fils with a volume of over 1 million and Warba Bank followed suit. The bank has posted a profits of KD 1.7 million in Q4 while during the fiscal year 2016, net profit surged by 157.5 pct to KD 2.575 million.

The market opened on tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index headed south thereafter as sentiment turned sour and scaled the highest level of 6815.18 pts past the mid-session. It pared back some of the losses before closing with moderate losses.

Top gainer of the day, Amwal rallied 7.35 pct to 36.5 fils and Yiaco climbed 7.14 percent to stand next. Kuwait Cable Vision Co slid 8.33 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imitiaz topped the volume with over 16 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s downswing, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 35 stocks gained whereas 61 closed lower. Of the 139 counters active on Monday, 43 closed flat. 5,709 deals worth KD 23.8 million were transacted — a 14.8 pct drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was unchanged at 150 fils off slight early lows with a volume of 1.2 million and Gulf Cable too did not budge from its earlier close of 560 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co soared 60 fils to KD 1.480 with thin trading.

Kuwait Foundry Co and Boubyan Petrochemical Co stood pat at 330 fils and 580 fils respectively whereas Shuaiba Paper Industries Co shed 25 fils. Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co stagnated at 325 fils while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co closed 10 fils in red.

Equipment Holding Co was flat at 62 fils and ACICO Industries Co rose 5 fils to 320 fils. Automated Systems Co paused at 320 fils and Humansoft Holding Co followed suit. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co fell 5 fils to 320 fils.

Kuwait Portland Cement Co held ground at KD 1.080 and NICBM followed suit. NAPESCO jumped 50 fils and Al Rai Media Group paused at 178 fils.

Gained

UPAC gained 20 fils while OSOS took in 2 fils before closing at 192 fils. Zimah Holding inched 1 fil into red and Mezzan Holding rose 10 fils to 990 fils. AWJ Holding was down 6 fils at 96 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co was unchanged at 68 fils and KGL Logistics gave up 3 fils to wind up at 72 fils. Jazeera Airways was flat at 600 fils off early lows and ALAFCO too did not budge from its previous close of 255 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank fell 2 fils to 246 fils and Kuwait International Bank followed suit. Burgan Bank rose 5 fils to 320 fils extending an identical rise in the last session.

Al Ahli Bank stagnated at 305 fils whereas Ahli United Bank was up 5 fils at 445 fils. Boubyan Bank gave up early gains to close flat at 430 fils with a volume of over 12 million shares.

KIPCO was unchanged at 510 fils while International Financial Advisors eased 1.5 fils to 45 fils. Kuwait Investment Co fell 3 fils to 99 fils while Securities Group Co and Al Mal Investment Co paused at 53 fils and 25.5 fils respectively.

KAMCO inched 1 fils into red while Bayan Investment Co eased 1.5 fils to 48.5 fils. Unicap and Ektittab Holding clipped 2 fils each and Noor Financial Investment Co paused at 58 fils.

KMEFIC fell 2 fils to 34 fils and Al Madina followed suit. Securities House Co eased 2 fils and Wethaq Takaful gave up 3 fils before settling at 59 fils.

Kuwait Real Estate Co and United Real Estate Co clipped 2 fils each whereas National Real Estate Co was flat at 110 fils. Mabanee Co was unchanged at 850 fils and Mazaya Holding fell 2 fils to 130 fils.

The market was mixed during last week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions and shed 15 points week-on-week. It has retreated 51 points from start of the month and is trading 17.97 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 208 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Al Mazaya Holding net profits soared 31.7 pct to KD 2.59 million in last quarter of 2016 while profits rose 10 pct to KD 10.25 million during the fiscal year of 2016. The board has recommended an annual cash dividend of 8% or 8 fls per share.

Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co’s fourth quarter net profit dipped o 64% in KD 14,000 from KD 39,000 in same period last year. During the fiscal year of 2016, profits was down 48 percent to KD 1.21 million from KD 2.34 mln in the previous year.

Al Mowasat Health Care has posted KD 1.8 million profits during the fourth quarter of 2016 and for the fiscal year of 2016, earnings rose 35.3 pct to KD 4.52 million from the year before. The board of directors has recommended a dividend payout of 20% or 20 fils per share.

Injazzat Real Estate Development has posted a net profit of KD 550,000 in the last quarter of 2016 and during the fiscal year of 2016, the bank earned KD 3.2 million. The board has recommended a cash dividend of 5% or 5 fils per share for FY 2016, with a total value of KD 2.03 million.

Ajial Real Estate Entertainment Company (AREEC) net losses narrowed by 22.7 pct to KD 888,620 from KD 1.15 million in Q4 of 2115.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

This news has been read 6171 times!

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