Kuwait index bounces, volume little changed – Americana jumps 99 fils; Ooredoo slips

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KUWAIT CITY, July 4: Kuwait stocks rebounded on Tuesday stemming the four-day decline. The bourse bounced 73.55 pts to 6,638.77 points helped by renewed buying in select counters even as the trading remained anemic owing to lack of new catalysts.

The KSX 15 benchmark rose 6.77 pts to 908.79 pts taking the year’s gains to 23 points while weighted index edged 1.85 pts higher. The volume turnover meanwhile fell slightly. 45.45 million shares changed hands — down 2.6 percent from the day before.

Barring one all sectors closed in the green turf. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 4.46 percent surge whereas consumer services fell 0.59 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services notched the highest market share of 29.8 percent market share and banks stood close behind with 28 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, Kuwait Food Co (Americana) rebounded from Monday’s steep losses with a 99 fils jump while Humansoft Holding, the highest priced stock of the bourse, soared 260 fils to KD 4.200. NAPESCO climbed 63 fils to KD 1.450 extending last session’s gains.

Zain fell 2 fils to 409 fils after trading 2.4 million shares and Ooredoo dropped 18 fils to KD 1.082 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) gained 19 fils trimming the year’s losses to 126 fils and Agility dipped 14 fils to 804 fils with a volume of 1.8 million.

National Bank of Kuwait took in 2 fils partly recouping Monday’s fall whereas Gulf Bank inched 1 fil higher. The bank has posted a 6.7 pct increase in first quarter profit in to KD 9.36 million from KWD 8.77 million in Q1 of 2016.

The market opened weak and edged lower in early trade. The main index scraped the day’s lowest level of 6565 points and headed north thereafter. It scaled the day’s highest level of 6,660.53 pts almost half way into the session and retreated slightly in the second half before closing with strong gains.

Top gainers of the day, Burgan Well Drilling Co and Contracting and Marine Services Co jumped 20 pct each to close at 72 fils and 75.6 fils respectively whereas KFIC slid 18.6 percent, the steepest decliner of the day. AUB topped the volume with 4.8 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 59 stocks advanced whereas 40 closed lower. Of the 121 counters active on Tuesday, 59 closed flat. 2424 deals worth KD 9.8 million were transacted — a 15.6 pct risen in value from the day before

National Industries Group dialed up 2 fils whereas Gulf Cable slipped 8 fils to 407 fils. Heavy Engineering and Shipbuilding Co fell 5 fils to 201 fils while Contracting and Marine Services Co was up 12.6 fils at 75.6 fils. Equipment Holding Co edged 1 fil up to 49 fils.

Jazeera Airways slipped 7 fils to 465 fils while Metal and Recycling Co stood pat at 88 fils with razor thin trading. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 4 fils to 574 fils and Kuwait Cable Vision Co inched 1 fil higher. Mezzan Holding was down 14 fils at 911 fils.

Climbed

Automated Systems Co climbed 10 fils and Kuwait National Cinema vaulted 232 fils to KD 1.392. The company ‘s profits swelled 26.17% in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 3.23 mln in from KD 2.56 million in the same period last year.

Burgan Well Drilling Co gained 12 fils and AWJ Holding held ground at 76 fils. Eyas For Higher and Technical Education sank 66 fils and Al Rai Media Group eased 1 fil to 120 fils. Yiaco Medical climbed 24 fils to 184 fils.

In the banking sector, Al Mutahed dropped 10 fils to 390 fils extending previous session’s losses while Kuwait International Bank and Boubyan Bank paused at 245 fils and 405 fils respectively.

Commercial Bank took in 2 fils and Burgan Bank was up 3 fils at 334 fils. Warba Bank inched 1 fil higher to 253 fils whereas Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.

KIPCO dialed up 1 fil and KAMCO trimmed a marginal 0.5 fil to close at 80 fils. The company’s profits surged by 111.6% in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 285,990.

National Investment Co edged 0.7 fil higher to 100.7 fils and Coast Investment Co gave up gave up 0.9 fil before settling at 39.1 fils. International Financial Advisors trimmed 0.6 fil and and Securities House Co closed 0.5 fil in red.

Bayan Investment Co took in 0.5 fils and Osoul Investment closed flat at 59 fils. Ektittab Holding and Sokouk Holding were up 0.5 fil each and Aayan fell 0.4 fil to 39 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co and Tamdeen Investment Co were unchanged at 50 fils and 300 fils respectively whereas Al Imtiaz inched 1 fil higher to 159 fils.

Ahleia Insurance Co slid 50 fils to 430 fils whereas Kuwait Insurance Co added 10 fils before closing at 260 fils. Warba Insurance co climbd 15.4 fils.

National Real Estate Co fell 5 fils to 109 fils and United Real Estate Co stood pat at 84.9 fils. Mabanee Co clipped 1 fil and Mazaya Holding dialed up 2 fils. Ream jumped 30 fils to 310 fils and

The market has been trending lower so far during the week and has slid 124 points in last three sessions. It had shed 26 points during whole of June and is trading 15.5 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 KWD 785,610 in same period of 2016.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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