Kuwait index kicks off week on sluggish note – Americana gains 20 fils; Jazeera Airways drops

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KUWAIT CITY, May 14: Kuwait stocks sagged on Sunday as it kicked off the week on sluggish note. The price index slipped 11.63 pts in volatile trade to 6658.84 pts tracking the weak regional peers. Some of the heavyweights shone even as the broader sentiment remained mixed.

The KSX 15 benchmark rose 3.18 pts to 914.25 points while weighted index was little changed at 400.65 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile slipped close to the 100 million mark. 103.99 million shares changed hands — a 32.8 pct drop from the last session.

The sectors closed mostly in the red zone. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 3 pct jump whereas healthcare shed 2.32 percent, the steepest decliner of the day. In terms of volume, financial services accounted for the highest market share of 46.3 pct and real estate trailed with 28.3 percent contribution.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait rose 10 fils to 680 fils on back of 2.38 million shares and Kuwait Food Co (Americana) climbed 20 fils to KD 2.460. Tamdeen Investment Co shed 20 fils and Mabanee Co slid 30 fils to close at 800 fils,

Zain rose 5 fils to 440 fils and Ooredoo was unchanged at KD 1.220 after closing in red in the previous session. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) fell 10 fils to 850 fils and Agility added 10 fils before settling at 650 fils.

Kuwait Finance House was flat at 490 fils and Burgan Bank gave up 5 fils. The bank has registered a 24.6% year-on-year increase in its profits to KD 17.81 for the first quarter of 2017. The net operating profit however saw a drop of 3.4 pct to KD 29.16 million.

The market opened firm and rose briefly in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest mark of 6,696.63 pts and drifted sideways before falling sharply amid selling in select counters. It spiked again but slipped back into red to bottom at 6,653.39 pts and closed in red.

Top gainer of the day, Remal rallied 7.6 pct to 70 fils and Tijara climbed 7.4 pct to stand close behind. Kuwait Cinema Co slid 8.9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Salam topped the volume with over 8 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s drop, the losers outnumbered the winners. 38 stocks advanced whereas 51 closed lower. Of the 133 counters active on Sunday, 44 closed flat. 4722 deals worth KD 11.7 million were transacted — a 25.3 pct dip in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was unchanged at 114 fils off slight early highs and Gulf Cable was up 5 fils at 420 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co gained 10 fils while Contracting and Marine Services Co paused at 62 fils.

Jazeera Airways dropped 10 fils to 485 fils and ALAFCO was flat at 265 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co climbed 20 fils to 305 fils while Metal and Recycling Co inched 1 fils into red.

Boubyan Petrochemical Co fell 10 fils to 560 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical was unchanged at 325 fils. Al Rai Media Group clipped 2 fils. Burgan Well Drilling Co was flat at 88 fils and Shuaiba Industrial added 5 fils.

NAPESCO vaulted 100 fils to KD 1.580 and Automated Systems Co gained 10 fils. Educational Holding Group slipped 10 fils and KCPC followed suit to wind up at 156 fils.

Humansoft Holding and AWJ Holding stood pat at KD 3.900 and 76 fils respectively whereas Mowasat Hospital dipped 20 fils to 315 fils. Mezzan Holding rose 10 fils to KD 1.000 and Zimah Holding eased 1 fil.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co took in 1 fils to close at 59 fils and KGL Logistics held ground at 57 fils. Yiaco Medical slipped 10 fils to 248 fils erasing last session’s gains.

Gulf Bank and Commercial Bank were unchanged at 244 fils and 365 fils respectively while Ahli United Bank shed 10 fils. Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the day.

Boubyan Bank was flat at 410 fils and Kuwait International Bank dialed down 2 fils to end at 244 fils. Warba Bank took in 2 fils to wind up at 244 fils.

National Investment Co and KAMCO clipped 2 fils each to close at 104 fils and 79 fils respectively whereas Kuwait Investment Co inched 1 fils higher. Al Mal Investment was flat at 18 fils with a volume of 3.7 million.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) and Securities House Co paused at 99 fils and 44 fils respectively whereas Securities Group Co eased 1 fils to 98 fils. Bayan Investment Co took in 1 fils and KFIC was up 0.5 fils at 40 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co fell1 fils to 50 fils and Sokouk Holding Co closed 0.5 fils lower at 45 fils. Al Imtiaz dialed down 2 fils after trading over 2 million shares and Warba Insurance Co slipped 88 fils.

National Real Estate Co was flat at 104 fils with a volume of 1.9 million shares and Salhiya Real Estate too did not budge from its earlier close of 370 fils. Mazaya Holding too stalled at 110 fils.

The market was mixed during last week. The price index closed higher in three of the five sessions and dipped 81 points week-on-week. It had slumped 182 points from start of the month and is trading 15.84 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 208 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, 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.

Injazzat Real Estate Development has recorded a 71.5% surge in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 2.35 million from KD 1.37 million in Q1 of 2016,

The earnings were boosted by the sale of one of the company’s assets at a profit of KD 1.97 million. In 2016 the profit was up 2.9% at KD 3.2 mln.

National Petroleum Services (Napesco) first quarter profit surged 62.7% year-on-year to KD 2.31 million as to compared to KD 1.42 million in same period last year. It company had earned KD 7.71 million in 2016, up 35.6% from 2015.

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.

Kuwait National has registered a 26.17 pct jump in profits to KD 3.23 million during the first quarter of 2017 from same period in 2016. The net operating profit surged 61.3% to KD 1.3 million.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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