Kuwait index winds up week on strong footing – Humansoft Holding jumps 50 fils; Americana dips

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KUWAIT CITY, Aug 17: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Thursday to wind up the week on a strong footing. The price index climbed 31.72 pts in volatile session to 6,885.84 points helped by renewed buying across the sectors. The heavyweights however closed narrowly mixed.

The KSX 15 gauge fell 0.86 pt to 967.76 points while weighted index ticked 0.65 point up. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a modest rebound following Wednesday’s drop. 94.82 million shares changed hands — a 6.6 percent rise from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Technology outshone the rest with 2.46 pct gain whereas oil and gas shed 1.94 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services garnered the highest market share of 50 pct and 20.3 percent contribution.

Among the prime movers, National Bank of Kuwait rose 3 fils to 732 partly recouping last session’s fall and KAMCO was up 2.9 fils at 79.9 fils. Humansoft Holding jumped 50 fils to KD 4.350 whereas Kuwait Food Co (Americana) shed 10 fils.

Zain extended its rally with a 3 fils rise amid brisk trading and Ooredoo fell 5 fils to KD 1.185. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) inched 1 fil lower and Agility was down 3 fils at 846 fils.

Kuwait Finance House dialed down 2 fils and Gulf Bank closed flat. The bank has registered a 12.3 pct rise in the second quarter profits to KD 13.4 million from same period last year.

The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index headed south to plumb the day’s lowest level of 6,809.90 points ahead of the mid-session before pulling higher. It drifted listlessly thereafter and revved up in the final minutes to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, Massaleh climbed 9.54 pct to 44,8 fils and Amar Financing scaled 8.5 percent to stand next. UPAC slid 7.14 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Zain topped the volume with over 8 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s upswing, winners outnumbered the losers. 67 stocks advanced whereas 44 closed lower. Of the 130 counters active on Thursday, 19 closed flat. 3,661 deals worth KD 15.9 million were transacted — a 18 pct drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group rose 4 fils to 147 fils on back of 6.5 million shares and Gulf Cable jumped 19 fils to 507 fils with a volume of 1.3 million. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co inched 1 fil higher to 214 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co gained 9 fils and Portland Cement Co stood pat at 980 fils. Equipment Holding Co took in 0.4 fil and NICBM swung 12 fils higher to 187 fils. Educational Holding Group dialed up 2 fils before settling at 349 fils.

Edged

ALAFCO edged 1 fil higher and Jazeera Airways was unchanged at 574 fils. The airline has posted a 18.1 pct year-on-year increase in profits to KD 2.3 million during the April-June period. The operating profits grew by 22.9 pct to KD 2.2 million.

Kuwait National Cinema Co slid 50 fils and NAPESCO tumbled 45 fils to 852 fils. The company’s second quarter profits slid 26.8 pct to KD 1.73 million from same period in year before. During the first half, profits rose 6.9 percent to KD 4.04 million.

Combined Group Contracting Co slipped 8 fils to 560 fils and KCPC was down 4 fils to 141 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co paused at 569 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gave up 5 fils. OSOS was up 4 fils at 124 fils.

Gulf Finance House climbed 11 fils to 11 fils and Eyas For Higher and Technical Education added 5 fils. Kuwait Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.8 fil and KGL Logistics clipped 0.4 fil.

UPAC plunged 55 fils to 715 fils while Al Rai Media Group and AWJ Holding paused at 127 fils and 84 fils respectively. Mezzan Holding was down 12 fils at 803 fils extending Wednesday’s steep losses.

In the banking sector, Commercial Bank inched 1 fil up to 360 fils and Kuwait International Bank closed 1 fil in red. Al Mutahed dialed up 2 fils and Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.

Burgan Bank was unchanged at 370 fils off early lows and Boubyan Bank fell 2 fils to 429 fils. Warba Bank trimmed 1 fil before closing at 265 fils.

National Investment Co and KIPCO were flat at 115 fils and 365 fils respectively whereas Kuwait Investment Co edged 1 fil higher. Coast Investment Co added 1.7 fils on back of 4.6 million shares and Securities House Co closed 2.2 fils in green.

Sokouk Holding and Al Deera Holding ticked 0.2 fil higher each and Al Mal Investment took in 0.3 fil. KMEFIC eased 0.5 fil to 28.5 fils and Unicap gave up 0.3 fil. Ektittab Holding paused at 36.2 fils.

Tamdeen Investment Co dropped 10 fils to 300 fils and Noor Financial Investment Co added 2 fils. KFIC inched 1 fil up to 45 fils and Al Imtiaz closed flat. Kuwait Insurance Co rose 5 fils to 255 fils.

National Real Estate Co and Salhiya Real Estate Co took in 1 fil each whereas Mabanee Co was down 3 fils at 782 fils. Tamdeen Real Estate Co gave up 5 fils while Mazaya Holding inched 1 fil higher. REAM fell 3 fils to 381 fils.

The market was largely upbeat during the week. The price index closed higher in four of the five sessions and gained 40 points week-on-week. It has climbed 34 points from the start of the month and is trading 19.79 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Gulf Insurance Group’s earnings dived 27.6 pct year-on-year during the second quarter to KD 2.77 million. During the first six months of 2017, the profits dropped 21.6 percent to KD 5.59 million.

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 percent 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.

National Real Estate’s (NREC) ordinary general meeting has approved raising its capital to KD 150 million, by issuing 1.5 billion shares at a nominal value of 100 fils each. The company’s current capital stands at KD 98.97 million.

Educational Holding Group has posted a 13 pct drop in profits in the quarter ended May 31, 2017. The profits totaled KD 1.14 million as against KD 1.31 million in the same period last year.

By John Mathews – Arab Times Staff

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