Kuwait closes slightly lower; volume retreats – NBK slips 3 fils; Mabanee Co gains

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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 20: Kuwait stocks pulled slightly lower on Monday extending last session’s losses. The bourse fell 4.67 pts in volatile trade to 6,257.72 points dragged by heavyweights even as the broader trend remained narrowly mixed.

The KSX 15 gauge slipped 4.39 pts to 918.26 points while weighted index trimmed 1.45 pts to close t at 399.43 points. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank further to hit a four-week low as investors toed caution amid ongoing regional tensions. 58.9 million shares changed hands – a 6.62 pct drop from the day before

The sectoral closings diverged. Consumer goods outshone the rest with 1.82 percent gain whereas parallel market shed 1.42 pct, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, financial services garnered the highest market share of 45.8 pct market share and financial services trailed with 21.7 percent contribution.

Among the notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait slipped 5 fls to 735 fils after trading 4.2 million shares and Al Mutahed followed suit to wind up at 354 fils. KIPCO gave up 3 fils to close at 296 fils whereas Mabanee Co added 4 fils.

Zain gave fell 4 fils to 449 fils with a volume of 2.3 million and Ooredoo extended last session’s gains with a 9 fils rise to KD 1.089. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) gave up 7 fils and Agility was down 5 fils at 765 fils.

Kuwait Finance House eased 1 fil to 548 fils and Commercial Bank of Kuwait closed flat. The bank has posted a net profit of KD 12.45 million in third quarter of 2017, down 22 pct from the year-ago period. In the first nine months, profits nearly halved to KD 14.440 million.

The market opened firm and rose sharply in early trade amid brief spurt in buying. The main index peaked at 6288 points and pulled lower almost half way into the session. It drifted sideways thereafter before slipping further to bottom at 6238 pts and clawed back most of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Amwal Investment vaulted 20 pct to 33.6 fils and Marakex climbed 13.33 percent to stand next. Ajwan Real Estate slid 19 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with over 7 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s downtick, the losers outnumbered the winners. 39 stocks advanced whereas 55 closed lower. Of the 112 counters active on Monday, 18 closed flat. 2950 deals worth KD 11.5 million were transacted – little changed in value from the day before.

National Industries Group inched 1 fil lower to 143 fils after trading over 1 million shares and Gulf Cable slipped 9 fils to 418 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co dropped 7 fils and Equipment Holding Co clipped 1.3 fils.

Dipped

Jazeera Airways took in 1 fil whereas ALAFCO dipped 12 fils to 356 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co shed 4 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co held ground at 325 fils. NICBM was up 4 fils at 190 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co rose 10 fils to 275 fils while Metal and Recycling Co and NAPESCO stalled at 80 fils and 800 fils respectively. ACICO Industries was unchanged at 230 fils and Educational Holding Group ticked 1 fil into green.

Combined Group Contracting Co rose 3 fils with thin trading and Mezzan Holding was flat at 753 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.5 fil and KGL Logistics dialed up 0.9 fil.

Mashaer gave up 4.5 fils and Alrai Media Group paused at 110 fils. The company has incurred loss of KD 143,000 in the third quarter of 2017. During the first nine months, the company logged a decline of 49% in profits to KWD 1.5 million,

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank extended Sunday’s downtick with a 3 fils drop to 238 fils and Al Ahli Bank was up 3 fils 300 fils. Al Mutahed slipped 5 fils to 354 fils.

Burgan Bank and Boubyan Bank dialed down 2 fils each to end at 315 fils and 414 fils respectively whereas Warba Bank and Kuwait International Bank stood pat at 214 fils and 224 fils respectively.

Kuwait Investment Co took in 2 fils whereas National Investment Co edged 0.3 fil higher to 100.3 fils. Coast Investment Co trimmed 1.2 fils and Securities House pulled 1.7 fils into red. Unicap fell 1.9 fils to 37 fils.

Osoul Investment Co gave up 2 fils while KFIC and Al Salam eased 0.4 fil each. Al Madina and Ektittab Holding paused at 39.4 fils and 31.3 fils respectively whereas Amwal was up 5.6 fils at 33.6 fils.

Bayan Investment Co ticked 0.1 fil up and Noor Financial Services gave up 1.4 fils to settle at 58.1 fils. Al Imtiaz clipped 2 fils and Warba Insurance Co dropped 6.1 fils to 56 fils. Sokouk Holding fell 1.4 fils to 49.5 fils.

United Real Estate Co slipped 4.1 fils to 74.4 fils and Kuwait Real Estate Co ticked 1.1 fils lower.

National Real Estate Co dialed down 2 fils and Al Mazaya Holding eased 1 fil. The company’s profits were nearly flat at KD 2.703 million in the third quarter from the year before period.

The bourse has been retreating so far during the week and has shed 52 points in last two sessions. It has slid 296 points from start of the month and is trading over 8.8 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Agility has recorded net profits of KD 49.2 million in the first nine months of 2017 while the return on equity increased by 13.7 percent to 39.1 fils per share. In the July-September period, the earnings soared 714 pct to WD 17.8 million, increasing by 714% year-on-year.

Kuwait Finance and Investment has posted a 35 percent year-on-year  surge in profits to KD 299,483 for the first nine months of 2017 while earnings per share surged 35 percent to 1.0 fil. Total operating revenue rose 10% percent to KD 4.015 million during the period.

Gulf Bank of Kuwait’s total shareholders’ equity stood at KD 591.2 million by the end of September 2017. The net revenue from interest totaled KD 97.2 mln in January – September period while operating profits stood at KD 89.7 million.

Aqar Real Estate Investments Co’s earnings was down 6.42 pct year-on-year during the third quarter of 2017 to KD 345,140 .In the January-September period, profits rose 11.5 percent to KD 1.03 million. The operating revenues rose 14.6 pct to KD 1.48 million in nine-month period.

Credit Rating and Collection Co’s (Tahssilat) losses widened to KD 269,840 in the third quarter of 2017 from KD 61,020 in the same period last year. During the nine-month period, it logged a profit of KD 830,200 against a loss of KD 291,200 in the same period in 2016.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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