Kuwait bourse kicks off week on dull note – UPAC tumbles 90 fils; ALAFCO gains

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KUWAIT CITY, June 11: Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Sunday extending last session’s losses. The bourse dropped 28.88 pts in choppy trade to 6,754.54 points even as sentiment remained lackluster amid anemic volume.

The KSX 15 gauge dipped 6.55 pts to 900.22 points while weighted index fell 2.3 points to 397.93 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank further to hit a fresh multi-month low. 23.42 million shares changed hands — a 8.2 pct drop from Thursday.

The sectors closed mostly in the red. Financial services outshone the rest with 5.90 pct jump whereas industrials was down 1.14 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, financial services clocked the highest market share of 27.8 pct while telecommunications followed with 23.5 percent contribution.

Among prominent losers, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 7 fils to 668 fils reversing most of the gains in the last session while Commercial Bank was down 8 fils at 323 fils. Mabanee Co slipped 12 fils to 767 fils and UPAC tumbled 90 fils to 740 fils.

Zain dipped 7 fils to 410 fils after trading over 1 million shares and Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) extended Thursday’s drop with a 10 fils fall to 820 fils. Logistics major Agility shed 8 fils and Ooredoo was not traded during the session.

Kuwait Finance House clipped 2 fils and Burgan Bank followed suit. The bank has registered a 24.6% year-on-year increase in its profits to KD 17.81 for the first quarter of 2017. The net operating profit however saw a drop of 3.4 pct to KD 29.16 million.

The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index slipped into red thereafter as sentiment turned sour and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,728.14 points past the mid-session. However it clawed back some of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Gulf Finance Co (GFC) rallied 19.9 pct to 74.6 fils and Automated Systems Co soared 19,91 pct to stand close behind. Al Aqaria slumped 11.43 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and GFC topped the volume with 2.28 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s downswing, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the losers. 29 stocks advanced whereas 57 closed lower. Of the 106 counters active on Sunday, 20 closed flat. 1438 deals worth KD 5.79 million were transacted — up 9.8 percent in value from the day before.

National Industries Group fell 1 fil to 107 fils and whereas Gulf Cable stood pat at 419 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co dialed down 2 fils while Contracting and Marine Services Co ticked 1 fil lower.

Jazeera Airways dropped 11 fils to 458 fils whereas ALAFCO climbed 8 fils to 308 fils. Shuaiba Industrial dipped 10 fils to 280 fils whereas Metal and Recycling Co held ground at 90 fils with razor thin volume.

Kuwait Foundry Co fell 3 fils to 295 fils and Acico Industries was down 16 fils at 260 fils. The company’s first quarter profits rose by 0.78 pct to KD 3.88 mln as compared to KD 3.85 million in Q1 of 2016. Net operating profits was up 11.8 percent to KD 9.87 million.

Lower

Educational Holding Co dropped 10 fils to 355 fils and Al Rai Media Group inched 1 fil lower. The company has posted 66.7% drop in profits in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 449,760. The net operating profit dipped 64.9% to KD 495,540.

Combined Group Contracting Co rose 10 fils to 590 fils recouping last session’s fall while AWJ Holding clipped 1 fil. Boubyan Petrochemical Co took in 2 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co slipped 4 fils to 336 fils.

Equipment Holding Co added 2.3 fils while NICBM stood pat at 190 fils. Zimah Holding dialed up 1 fil and Mezzan Holding followed suit to wind up at 915 fils.

In the banking sector, Kuwait International Bank eased 1 fil to 244 fils and Boubyan Bank gave up 2 fils before settling at 406 fils. Gulf Bank took in 1 fil and Warba Bank was up 3 fils at 248 fils. Al Ahli Bank and AlMutahed were not traded during the session.

KIPCO eased 1 fil to 343 fils and National Investment Co gave up 2 fils to close at 102 fils. Securities Group Co paused at 97 fils and Securities House Co trimmed 0.9 fil. Kuwait Investment Co paused at 93.8 fils and International Financial Advisors clipped 0.8 fil

Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) slipped 4 fils to 106 fils and Bayan Investment Co was unchanged at 50 fils. Sokouk Holding erased 2.4 fils and Amwal fell 1.8 fils to 70 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co dialed up 2.7 fils whereas Tamdeen Investment Co stood pat at 310 fils. Coast Investment Co added 2.6 fil and Ektittab Holding edged 0.5 filsinto green.

Kuwait Real Estate Co and United Real Estate Co were flat at 58 fils and 84.5 fils respectively whereas National Real Estate Co clipped 2 fils. Mazaya Holding eased 1 fil to settle at 110 fils.

The market was mixed during last week. The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions and dropped 30 points week-on-week. It had shed 31 points from start of the month and is trading 17,5 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 KD 785,610 in same period of 2016.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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