Kuwait market continues uptrend; volume retreats – CBK climbs 20 fils; Ooredoo flat

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KUWAIT CITY, Aug 22: Kuwait stocks headed north on Tuesday as it continued its gaining spree to fifth consecutive session The bourse rose 18.65 pts in volatile session to 6,932.01 points led by some of the banks even as other blue chips closed mixed.

The KSX 15 benchmark climbed 4.55 pts to 977.92 points while weighted index was up 1.21 pts to 429.03 points. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped below the 100 million shares after hitting a 3-week high in last session. 94.8 million shares changed hands — down 22.6 pct from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in the green zone. Healthcare outshone the rest with a whopping 11.45 pct jump whereas technology shed 3.56 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, financial services accounted for the highest market share of 49.7 pct and real estate trailed with 22.83 percent contribution.

Among the standout performers, National Bank of Kuwait extended last session’s gains with a 7 fils rise to 743 fils and Kuwait Finance House added to Monday’s upswing with a 4 fils gain on back of over 4 million shares. Mabanee Co was up 8 fils at 799 fils.

Zain fell 5 fils to 502 fils following previous session’s downtick and Ooredoo stood pat at KD 1.165. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) eased 1 fil to 802 fils and Agility gave up 4 fil to settle at 865 fils.

Commercial Bank jumped 20 fils to 395 fils and Al Ahli Bank slipped 4 fils. The bank has recorded a profit of KD 7.7 million in April — June quarter, a 5.6 pct increase from second quarter of last year.

The market opened weak and edged lower in early trade. The main index rose sharply amid buying spurt to peak at 6,942.18 points and swung lower. It bottomed at 6,896.57 pts almost half way into the session and clawed back thereafter in choppy trade to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day. Mowasat Hospital Co vaulted 19.9 pct to 482 fils and Al Deera Holding climbed 10.32 pct to stand next. Nafais slid 9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with over 17 million shares. Despite the day’s upswing, the losers slightly outnumbered the winners. 53 stocks advanced whereas 55 closed lower. Of the 134 counters active on Tuesday, 26 closed flat. 3,605 deals worth KD 15.34 million were transacted — a 28.9 percent drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was flat at 147 fils after trading 2.4 million shares and Kuwait Cement Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 420 fils.

Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co took in 1 fil and Equipment Holding Co dialed up 2 fils. NICBM rose 7 fils to 197 fils.

Jazeera Airways jumped 34 fils to 569 fils whereas ALAFCO held ground at 380 fils off early lows. Boubyan Petrochemical Co eased 1 fil and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was unchanged at 335 fils.

Gains

Kuwait Food Co (Americana) was flat at KD 1.850 and while Kuwait National Cinema Co extended last session’s gains with a whopping 130 fils spike to KD 1.400.

Automated Systems Co and AWJ Holding paused at 165 fils and 83 fils respectively. Mezzan Holding climbed 29 fils to 780 fils.

Burgan Well Drilling Co was flat at 85 fils and Educational Holding Group dipped 8 fils. The company has posted a 13 pct drop in profits in the quarter ended 31 May 2017. The profits totaled KD 1.14 million as against KD 1.31 million in the same period last year.

Combined Group Contracting Co dropped 8 fils to 550 fils and OSOS was down 6 fils at 120 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.7 fil and KGL Logistics Co ticked 0.6 fil higher.

In the banking sector, Burgan Bank and Kuwait International Bank took in 1 fils each whereas Al Mutahed held ground at 417 fils. Gulf Bank clipped 1 fil and Boubyan Bank followed suit. Warba Bank paused at 266 fils.

National Investment Co inched 1 fil up to 116 fils whereas KIPCO and Securities House Co 370 fils and 50 fils respectively. Coast Investment Co trimmed 0.2 fil and Aayan Investment Co ticked 0.2 fil up to 46.8 fils.

KAMCO rose 4.5 fils to 79.5 fils and KMEFIC dialed up 0.4 fil. KFIC gave up 1 fils and NIH took in 2 fils to settle at 71 fils. Bayan Investment Co eased 0.8 fil.

Noor Financial Investment Co fell 0.7 fil and Osoul Investment paused at 59 fils. Al Madina For Finance and Investment Co closed 0.4 fil in red.

Al Deera Holding added 3.2 fils and Al Imtiaz dialed up 2 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co was unchanged at 265 fils and Gulf Insurance Co soared 40 fils. First Takaful Insurance Co was down 2.9 fils at 58.1 fils.

Tamdeen Real Estate Co dipped 25 fils whereas United Real Estate CO and National Real Estate Co paused at 88 fils and 122 fils. Mazaya Holding was unchanged at 114 fils and Salhiya Real Estate Co was down 7 fils at 360 fils.

The market was been trending higher so far during the week and has rallied 46 points in last three sessions. It has soared 80 points from the start of the month and is trading 20.60 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Mabanee Company posted a 1.55 pct rise in profits to KD 12.55 million for the second quarter from Q2 of previous year. In the first half , profits ticked 1 pct up to KD 24.61 million from corresponding period of 2016.

Kuwait Investment Co profits soared 158.3 percent to KD 2.97 million in NICBM rose 7 fils to 197 fils the second quarter of 2017 from same period last year. In the January-June period, profits surged 283.6 pct year-on-year to KD 7.71 million.

Kuwait Real Estate Co’s net profits surged 51.2 pct year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017 to KD 1.49 million. In the first half , profits rose 10.5 percent to KD 3.16 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% 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.

Injazzat Real Estate Development Company registered a 32.3 pct drop to KD 511,900 for the second quarter of 2017 from Q2 of 2016. In the first six months, the profits soared 36.1 percent to KD 2.86 million.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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