Kuwait bourse retreats as investors book profit – NBK slips 6 fils; Ooredoo gains

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KUWAIT CITY, Sept 18 : Kuwait stocks slipped into red on Monday after treading water in the last session. The price index dropped 21.33 pts in choppy trade to 6,890.37 pts as profit taking weighed on some of the heavyweights following recent gains.

The KSX 15 benchmark fell 0.22 pts to 1,036.77 points while weighted index gave 1.57 pts to close at 443.41 points. The volume turnover meanwhile ticked up following Sunday’s slight pull-back 159.9 million shares changed hands — a 5.5 pct rise from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Parallel market outled the rest with 1 pct gain whereas insurance shed 2.6 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, real estate notched the highest market share of 46.4 pct and financial services followed with 36.3 pct contribution.

Among notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait slipped 6 fils to 799 fils partly reversing last session’s gains while Salhiya Real Estate Co was down 15 fils at 360 fils. Gulf Insurance Co tumbled 85 fils to 790 fils.

Zain vacillated in a narrow range before closing unchanged at 542 fils whereas Ooredoo jumped 33 fils to KD 1.195 trimming the month’s losses ro 25 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) dipped 7 fils to 820 fils paring some of Sunday’s gains and Agility followed suit to end at 970 fils.

Gulf Bank added 3 fils and Burgan Bank inched 1 fil higher. The bank has posted a profit of KD 21.07 million in the second quarter, a 24.6 pct year-on-year increase from same period last year.

The market opened on a dull note and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6,924 points and headed south thereafter as selling roiled the sentiment. It bottomed at 6,868 points half way into the session before clawing back some of the losses in the second half.

Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Cable Vision Co soared 16.6 pct to 35 fils and Tamkeen stood next with 12.14 pct jump. Gulf Finance Co slid 12 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Abyaar topped the volume with 26.7 million shares.

Despite the day’s drop, the market spread was almost even. 52 stocks advanced whereas 50 closed lower. Of the 124 counters active on Monday, 22 closed flat. 4,405 deals worth KD 20.89 million were transacted — down 25.6 percent in value from the day before

National Industries Group, the flagship company of the Kharafi Group took in 2 fils on back of 4.2 million shares and Gulf Cable followed suit to end at 544 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co fell 2 fils to 220 fils.

Jazeera Airways climbed 10 fils to 599 fils with thin volume whereas ALAFCO was down 6 fils at 368 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 5 fils to 665 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co stood pat at 341 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co fell 5 fils to 302 fils erasing Sunday’s gains and AICO Industries dropped 9 fils to 271 fils. Equipment Holding Co inched 1.1 fils higher and Kuwait National Cinema Co gave up 3 fils.

Independent Petroleum Group dived 45 fils and Educational Holding Group fell 5 fils. The company has posted a 13 pct drop in profits in the quarter ended May 31, 201 to KD 1.14 million as against KD 1.31 million in the same period last year.

Humansoft Holding was flat at KD 4.000 and Napesco slipped 828 fils. The bank’s second quarter profits slid 26.8 pct to KD 1.73 million from same period in year before.

Combined Group Contracting Co fell 9 fils to 515 fils while OSOS and UPAC stood pat at 115 fils and 655 fils respectively. Eyas For Higher and Technical Education slid 39 fils.

NICBM shed 16 fils whereas Automated Systems Co was up 5 fils at 170 fils. Kuwiat and Gulf Link Transport Co inched 0.6 fil higher and KGL Logistics paused at 52 fils. Al Rai Media Group eased 1 fil to 124 fils.

In the banking sector, Commercial Bank of Kuwait was unchanged at 398 fils and Al Ahli Bank dialed up 2 fils. Boubyan Bank was down 6 fils at 451 fils.

Kuwait International Bank clipped 2 fils and Warba Bank followed suit to close at 256 fils. Al Mutahed and Kuwait Finance House were not traded during the session.

KIPCO climbed 5 fils to 360 fils extending last session’s gains and National Investment Co was flat at 113 fils. Kuwait Investment Co took in 1 fil and Coast Investment Co added 0.5 fil. Securities House Co was up 0.8 fil at 55.8 fils.

Bayan Investment Co eased 0.3 fil to 53.7 fils and Aayan was gave up 0.9 fil. Sokouk Holding rose 0.9 fil and Ektittab Holding ticked 0.1 fil higher. KMEFIC rose 2.9 fils to 28.9 fils and Osoul Investment Co inched 0.1 fil into red.

Noor Financial Investment Co dialed up 0.6 fil and Al Madina added 1.5 fils on back of over 1 million shares. Unicap gave up 3.1 fils and Al Imtiaz was down 3 fils at 177 fils.

National Real Estate Co fell 3 fils whereas AREEC and Mabanee Co clipped 2 fils each. Kuwait Real Estate Co edged 0.8 fil higher and United Real Estate Co inched 1.1 fil up. Mazaya Holding eased 1 fil to 118 fils.

The market has trended lower so far during the week and has shed 23 points in last two sessions. It has slipped 2 pts from the start of the month and is trading 19.87 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Mabanee Company posted a 1.55 pct rise in profits to KD 12.55 million for the second quarter from Q2 of previous year. In the first half, profits ticked 1 pct up to KD 24.61 million from corresponding period of 2016.

Gulf Insurance Group’s earnings dived 27.6 pct year-on-year during the second quarter to KD 2.77 million. During the first six months of 2017, the profits dropped 21.6% to KD 5.59 million.

National International Holding Co recorded a 66.2 percent dip in the second quarter profit to KD 828,500 from same period last year. In the first half of 2017, the profits tumbled 56 percent to KD 1.2 million.

Kuwait Investment Co profits soared 158.3 percent to KD 2.97 million in the second quarter of 2017 from same period last year. In the January- June period, profits surged 283.6 pct year-on-year to KD 7.71 million.

Kuwait Real Estate Co’s net profits surged 51.2 pct year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017 to KD 1.49 million. In the first half , profits rose 10.5 percent to KD 3.16 million.

Imtiaz Investment Group’s second quarter profits soared by a whopping 1.041 pct to KD 19.97 million from same period in 2016. During the first six months, profits surged 626.3% to KD 32.32 million.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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