Kuwait market closes in red; volume shrinks – Ooredoo dips 29 fils; Jazeera Airways gains
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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 6 : Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Wednesday extending the losses to second straight session. The price index slipped 17.54 pts in volatile trade to 6,196.58 points weighed by banks and other heavyweights even as sentiment remained weak amid continuing regional tensions.
The KSX 15 gauge dipped 7.61 pts to 895.3 points taking the month’s losses to 23 points while weighted index fell 2.88 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile tapered further to hit a two-week low. Over 53 million shares changed hands – a 10 pct drop from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Insurance outshone the rest with 2 pct gain whereas technology dived 4.4 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, banks mustered the highest market share of 34 percent and financial services trailed with 26 percent contribution.
In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait fell 4 fils to 719 fils after trading 1.5 million shares and Kuwait Finance House extended Tuesday’s fall with a 2 fils downtick. Humansoft Holding tumbled 55 fils to KD 3.506 and Mabanee Co was down 10 fils at 732 fils.
Zain inched 1 fil down to 441 fils with a volume of 4.7 million and Ooredoo dived 29 fils to KD 1.051. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) climbed 13 fils to 725 fils and logistics major Agility shed 28 fils extending Tuesday’s losses.
Burgan Bank fell 5 fils to 287 fils and Gulf Bank closed flat. The bank’s total shareholders’ equity stood at KD 591.2 million by the end of September 2017 while operating profits stood at KD 89.7 million.
The market opened firm and rose slightly in early trade to scale the day’s highest level of 6220 points. The main index drifted lower thereafter as sentiment turned negative before pulling up briefly half way into the session. It fell sharply to bottom at 6130 points in final hour and managed to claw back some of the losses at close.
Top gainer of the day, Burgan Well Drilling Co soared 20 pct to 61.2 fils and Ream jumped 13.6 percent to stand next. Kuwait Cable Vision Co slid 12.8 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Finance House topped the volume with 6.3 million shares.
Reflecting the day’s drop, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 29 stocks advanced whereas 65 closed lower. Of the 111 counters active on Wednesday, 17 closed flat. 3020 deals worth KD 13.4 million were transacted – a 17.25 pct rise in value from the day before.
National Industries Group extended last session’s losses with a 2 fils downtick after trading over 4 million shares and Gulf Cable was up 3 fils at 429 fils. ACICO Industries and NICBM stood pat at 248 fils and 210 fils respectively.
Shed
Educational Holding Group dropped 5 fils to 302 fils and Kuwait Cement Co shed 15 fils. The company registered a 25.3 percent year-on-yeear decline in profits to KD 2.27 million in the third quarter of 2017.In the nine-month period , profits was down by 19 percent to KD 12.25 million.
Jazeera Airways rose 9 fils to 644 fils and ALAFCO dialed donw 2 fils. The company registered a 133.3 percent increase surge in profits to KD 32.82 million for the fiscal year ended 30 September . The board of directors has recommended cash dividends of 10 fils per share.
Combined Group Contracting Co was flat at 478 fils and OSOS gave up 6 fils before settling at 94 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dipped 612 fils to 612 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co shed 9 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co clipped 2 fils.
Mezzan Holding was unchanged at 765 fils and Inovest added 3.3 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co trimmed 0.6 fil and KGL Logistics followed suit.
In the banking sector, Al Ahli Bank slipped 7 fils to 297 fils and Kuwait International Bank was down 12 fils at 217 fils. Commercial Bank was not traded during the session.
Al Mutahed rose 4 fils to 340 fils and Boubyan Bank dialed down 2 fils. Warba Bank extended last session’s drop with a 2 fils downtick.
KIPCO took in 2 fils while Arzan and Sokouk Holding eased 0.1 fil each to end at 30.5 fils and 47.8 fils respectively. National Investment Co trimmed 0.6 fil and International Financial Advisors gave up 0.8 fil.
KAMCO fell 2.7 fils to 65.3 fils while Bayan Investment Co and Osoul Holding stood pat at 44.9 fils and 56.9 fils respectively. Securities Investment House eased 0.4 fil to 50.6 fils and Al Mal Investment edged 1.4 fils down.
Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) dipped 6 fils to 109 fils and Unicap ticked 0.3 fil into green. Noor Financial Investment Co trimmed 0.2 fil and Amwal Investment inched 0.5 fil into red. Gulf Insurance jumped 50 fils and Wathaq Takaful dialed up 1.5 fils.
Kuwait Real Estate ticked 0.1 fil up and National Real Estate Co took in 2 fils. AREEC and Mazaya Holding were flat at 170 fils and 108 fils respectively whereas Ream gained 30 fils. United Real Estate Co fell 0.5 fil and Al Aqaria added 2 fils.
The bourse has been mixed so far during the week and is unchanged in last three sessions. It had slid 317 points during whole of November and is trading 7.8 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Commercial Facilities recorded a a 26.2 percent surge in third-quarter profits to KD 2.94 million from same period last year. In the first nine months of 2017, net profit swelled by 33.7 percent to KD 7.3 million, The company attributed the rise in its profits to the increase in investment profits.
Asiya Capital Investments Co on Thursday bounced back to black in the third quarter of 2017 with a profit of KD 503,900 as against loss of KD 590,000 in the same period in the year before. In the January-September period the losses totaled KD 794,290 narrowing from KD 4.63 million in the 9M of 2016.
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.
NAPESCO posted a 104.4 percent surge to KD 3.96 million in the third quarter profits of 2017 from the same period last year. The company earned KD 8 mln in the first three quarters – a 39.9 pct rise from KD 5.72 m in the same period last year.
By John Mathews – Arab Times Staff
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