Kuwait bourse winds up week on sluggish note – Gulf Insurance Co dips 50 fils; NBK gains

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KUWAIT CITY, June 8: Kuwait stocks headed south on Thursday to wind up the week on a dour note. The price index dipped 36.28 points in a tame session weighed by selling in some of the mid and low caps even as the heavyweights closed narrowly mixed.

The KSX 15 benchmark climbed 4.01 points to 906.77 pts trimming month’s losses to 8 points while weighted index eased 0.19 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped to week’s lowest level. 25.5 million shares changed hands — a 20.46 pct drop from the previous session.

The sectors closed mostly in the red. Parallel market outperformed the rest with 0.58 percent gain whereas technology tanked 6.3 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, real estate mustered the highest market share of 32.64 percent while banks followed with 26 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait rose 10 fils to 675 fils while Commercial Bank of Kuwait was down 13 fils at 331 fils. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) fell 4 fils to 110 fils and Gulf Insurance Co tumbled 50 fils.

Zain inched 1 fils up to 417 fils and Ooredoo dropped 10 fils to KD 1.200 taking the month’s losses to 60 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) dropped 8 fils to 830 fils and Agility gave up 5 fils extending Wednesday’s losses.

Kuwait Finance House was flat at 483 fils and Warba Bank clipped 2 fils. The bank has posted a 296.3% jump in its profits to KD 1..3 million for the first quarter of 2017 as compared to the same period last year.

The market opened on tame note and edged higher in early trade. The price index hit the day’s highest level of 6,819.89 pts and retreated thereafter. It slipped below the red ahead of the mid-session as sentiment turned weak and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,770.11 points. It however pared back some of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Gulf Finance Co rallied 19.85 pct to 62.2 fils and the counters also topped the volume with over 3 million shares, Safat Energy Holding Co climbed 7.57 pct to stand next whereas Automated Systems Co tumbled 18.4 percent, the steepest decliner of the day.

Reflecting the day’s downswing, the losers outnumbered the winners. 40 stocks advanced whereas 52 closed lower. Of the 109 counters active on Thursday, 17 closed flat. 1279 deals worth KD 5.2 million were transacted — a 20.8 pct dip in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was unchanged at 108 fils and Gulf Cable gave up 1 fils before settling at 419 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co took in 1 fils while Contracting and Marine Services Co inched 1 fils into red.

Jazeera Airways fell 1 fils to 469 fils and NICBM was down 10 fils at 190 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co was unchanged at 580 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 340 fils.

UPAC shed 20 fils and NAPESCO dipped 11 fils to KD 1.499 after logging strong gains in the day before. The company’s first quarter profit surged 62.7% year-on-year to KD 2.31 million as compared to KD 1.42 million in same period last year.

Climbed

Independent Petroleum Group gave up 5 fils to end at 345 fils and Shuaiba Industrial climbed 9 fils. The company has logged a Q1 profit of KD 632,050 up 0.4% from KD 629,560 in the same period a year ago.

Humansoft Holding stood pat at KD 3.900 and Kuwait Cement Co dived 38 fils to 430 fils. KPPC added 1.8 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co dipped 10 fils to 580 fils. Equipment Holding Co eased 1.4 fils to 48.2 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co slipped 7 fils to 60 fils and KGL Logistics Co closed 1 fils lower. Mezzan Holding gained 13 fils and Zimah Holding clipped 0.9 fils. AWJ Holding fell 3 fils to 74 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank took in 1 fils and Al Ahli Bank held ground at 310 fils. AlMutahed eased 1 fils to 435 fils extending Wednesday’s downtick.

Burgan Bank dialed up 2 fils and Kuwait International Bank stood pat at 245 fils. Boubyan Bank closed 1 fils in the red at 408 fils. Kuwait Investment Co edged 0.1 fils higher whereas National Investment Co and International Financial Advisors paused at 104 fils and 37.8 fils respectively.

KIPCO tripped 1 fils and Osoul Investment Co slipped 4 fils to 55 fils. Sokouk Holding took in 0.7 fils and KFIC was unchanged at 40 fils. Noor Financial Investment Co clipped 2.2 fils and Tamdeen Investment Co paused at 310 fils.

Bayan Investment Co fell 1.4 fils to 50 fils and Al Imtiaz inched 1 fils higher to 150 fils. Securities House Co added 0.6 fils and Arzan gave up 0.5 fils to settle at 33.5 fils.

United Real Estate Co and Tamdeen Real Estate Co were flat at 84.5 fils and 360 fils respectively whereas Mabanee Co climbed 6 fils to 779 fils. Kuwait Real Estate Co dialed up 1 fils and National Real Estate Co was down 4 fils at 110 fils.  The market was mixed during the week.

The main index closed lower in three of the five sessions and has shed 30 points week-on-week. It had slumped 60 points during whole of May and is trading 18 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 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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