Kuwait bourse retreats into red; volume jumps – NBK dips 4 fils; Zain gains

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KUWAIT CITY, Aug 15: Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Tuesday reversing last session’s gains as profit taking kicked in. The bourse dropped 15.61 pts in volatile session to 6,843.66 points even as the overall sentiment remained fickle.

The KSX 15 gauge eased 0.8 points to 972.59 pts while weighted index fell 0.24 pts down to 424.53 points. The volume turnover meanwhile surged to week’s high following Monday’s downtick. 95.53 million shares changed hands — a 33.8 pct rise from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in the red turf. Parallel market outshone the rest with 0.86 percent gain whereas financial services shed 0.96 pct, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, accounted for the highest market share of 34.2 pct and banks trailed with 24.9 percent contribution.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait fell 4 fils to 736 fils after trading 2.3 million shares while KIPCO was down 8 fils at 361 fils snapping the two-day gains. Mabanee Co gave up 5 fils extending Monday’s losses.

Zain climbed 7 fils to 496 fils on back of 11 million shares and Ooredoo was up 5 fils at KD 1.175. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) took in 1 fil and Agility shed 6 fils to wind up at 841 fil.

Kuwait Finance House rose 3 fils with brisk trading of over 10 million shares and Commercial Bank took in 2 fils. The bank has posted a second quarter profit of KD 1.2 million — down 67.9 pct year-on- year.

The market opened firm and rose briefly in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6,865.24 points and fell sharply amid a selling bout. It bottomed at 6,830.89 points and rebounded half way into the session before heading south again. It clawing back some of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Gulf Cable rallied 16.2 pct to 33 fils and RKWC climbed 3.7 pct to stand next. Gulf Finance House slumped 10.2 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Zain topped the volume with over 11 million shares.

Despite the day’s fall, market spread was almost even. 52 stocks advanced whereas 53 closed lower. Of the 125 counters active on Tuesday, 20 closed flat. 3,836 deals worth KD 23.8 million were transacted — a 38.6 pct surge in value from the day before.

National Industries Group, inched 1 fil lower to 144 fils with a volume of 144 fils and Gulf Cable took in 1 fil. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co rose 5 fils to 214 fils and Equipment Holding Co trimmed 0.1 fil.

Jazeera Airways slipped 5 fils to 575 fils and ALAFCO was down 3 fils at 370 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co clipped 2 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co added 4 fils to settle at 345 fils. Kuwait Cable Vision closed 4.6 fils higher.

Kuwait Foundry Co dipped 7 fils to 280 fils and NICBM gave up 5 fils at 175 fils. Educational Holding Co fell 3 fils and Kuwait National Cinema Co was down 9 fils at KD 1.390.

NAPESCO was flat at 899 fils and Humansoft Holding too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 4.300. Eyas For Higher and Technical Education paused at 850 fils.

Reversed

Kuwait Portland Cement Co partly reversed Monday’s strong gains with a 5 fils drop to 985 fils and Kuwait Cement Co stood pat at 420 fils. Automated Systems Co dipped 10 fils at 170 fils and AWJ Holding dialed up 1.2 fils.

Combined Group Co inched 1 fil up and Acico Industries paused at 260 fils. The company has posted a profits of KD 745,000 for the second quarter of 2017, a 35.8 pct drop from same period last year.

Kuwait Gulf Links took in 0.8 fil as it resumed trading after long gap and

KGL Logistics Co was up 1.9 fils at 52.8 fils. OSOS added 2 fils and Al Rai Media Co inched 1 fil higher. Mezzan Holding closed 3 fils in red.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank rose 2 fils to 247 fils and AlMutahed climbed 5 fils to 418 fils. Kuwait International Bank held ground at 245fils and Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.

Burgan Bank was unchanged at 370 fils and Boubyan Bank climbed 4 fils to 426 fils extending last session’s gains. Warba Bank inched 1 fil higher to 267 fils.

Kuwait Investment Co was up 3 fils at 108 fils and National Investment Co took in 1 fil. International Financial Advisors trimmed 0.2 fils and Coast Investment Co was marginally higher by 0.2 fil. Al Mal Investment ticked 0.1 fl into green.

KAMCO was flat at 77 fils while Ektittab Holding and Amwal Investment Co dialed up 0.2 fil each. Noor Financial Investment Co and Gulf Investment House trimmed 0.4 fil each whereas Sokouk Holding added 1.1 fil.

KFIC fell 1 fil to 44 fils and Unicap gave up 0.6 fil before settling at 46.4 fils. Bayan Investment Co fell 0.8 fils to 48.8 fil and Amwal Investment closed 0.2 fil in green. Kuwait Insurance Co slipped 4 fils to 250 fils and Ahleia Insurance Co gave up 3 fils.

National Real Estate Co and United Real Estate Co paused at 122 fils and Salhiya Real Estate scaled 8 fils. Tamdeen Real Estate Co clipped 1 fil and Mazaya Holding closed flat.

The market has been mixed so far during the week and has slipped 2 points in last three sessions. It has retreated 7 points from the start of the month and is trading 19 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) has recorded a 51.7 pct decline in second quarter profits to KD 720,000 from same period last year. During the January-June period, the earnings soared by 260.7 pct in profits to KD 2.92 million.

KMEFIC recorded a profit of KD 163,510 in Q2 of 2017, rebounding from a loss of KD 730,370 in same period last year. During the first half of 2017, the losses narrowed by 69.2 percent year-on-year to KD 406,200

Educational Holding Group has posted a 13 pct drop in profits in the quarter ended 31 May 2017. The profits totaled KD 1.14 million as against KD 1.31 million in the same period last year. In the nine-month period ending May 30, the earnings grew 22 pct to KD 4.32m.

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.

Aqar Real Estate Investment’s second quarter profits surged 27 pct to KD 350,410 mln from same period last year helped by increase of rent revenues. The revenues rose 23.4 percent to KD 687,320 in the first half while operating revenues climbed 21.6 percent to KD 987,070.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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