Kuwait stocks index dips as trading turns anemic – Markaz sheds 15 fils; KFH gains
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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 28: Kuwait stocks swung lower on Tuesday after treading water in the previous session. The bourse dipped 44.65 pts to 6,210.02 points as sentiment turned sour amid anemic trading vs Banks were mostly muted while other heavyweights closed narrowly mixed.
The KSX 15 index ticked 1.98 points higher to 908 pts and weighted index was up 1.12 pts to 397.61 points. The volume turnover meanwhile dipped to multi-month low as investors toed the sidelines in absence of cues. 36.9 million shares changed hands — a 51 pct slide from the day before.
The sectors closed mostly in red. Consumer goods outled the rest with 1.19 percent gain whereas industrials slid 2.23 pct, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, banks clocked the highest market share of 25.7 percent while financials services stood close with 24.4 pct contribution.
Among notable losers, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) shed 15 fils partly erasing Monday’s gains while investment conglomerate KIPCO clipped 2 fils. Nafais Holding plunged 129 fils to 520 fils and Afaq Educational Co dropped 24.2 fils to 96.8 fils.
Zain vacillated in a narrow range before closing flat at 445 fils with a volume of 3.4 million and Ooredoo gave up 5 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) paused at 730 fils and Agility rose 3 fils to 781 fils.
Kuwait Finance House climbed 5 fils to 552 fils and Kuwait International Bank inched 1 fil up. The bank registered a net profit of KD 13.5 million for the third quarter of 2017 while earnings per share reached 14.42 fils.
The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index drifted lower before trading flat past the mid-session. It fell sharply in the final minutes to plumb the day’s lowest level of 6,146 pts amid brief selling bout. It however pared back some of the losses at close.
Top gainer of the day, Amar Financing spiked 40 pct to 42 fils while Kuwait Cement Co climbed 20 percent to stand next. Hayat Telecommunications dived 20 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ithmaar Bank topped the volume with 4.8 million shares.
Despite the day’s downswing, the winners slightly outnumbered the losers. 45 stocks advanced whereas 43 closed lower. Of the 108 counters active on Tuesday, 20 closed flat. 2,039 deals worth KD 6.35 million were transacted – a 61.4 percent tumble in value from the day before.
National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 146 fils and Gulf Cable gained 10 fils. NIG has logged a profit of KD 2.12 million in the third quarter of 2017 and in the first nine months , the profits climbed to KD 7.35 mln.
Jazeera Airways and ALAFCO added 3 fils each to end at 660 fils and 370 fils respectively whereas Educational Holding Co stood pat at 307 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.4 fil and KGL Logistics Co paused at 52.4 fils.
Jumped
Kuwait Cement Co jumped 80 fils to 480 fils and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co was up 4 fils at 212 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co and ACICO slipped 5 fils each.
Kuwait Foundry Co fell 5 fils to 270 fils and Equipment Holding dialed up 2 fls. Automated Systems Co climbed 24 fils and Humansoft Holding gave up 2 fils.
OSOS dipped 9 fils to 100 fils and Al Rai Media Group scaled 9 fils before closing at 114 fils. Combined Group Contracting Co gave up 1 fil and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co clipped 2 fils.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait ticked 1 fil up to 722 fils on back of 1.4 million shares and Gulf Bank closed flat at 243 fils. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the session.
Boubyan Bank eased 1 fil to 419 fils and Warba Bank ticked 1 fil into green. Al Mutahed held ground at 340 fils and Burgan Bank was not traded during the day.
Kuwait Investment Co and National Investment Co were unchanged at 113 fils and 101 fils respectively whereas International Financial Advisors trimmed 0.3 fil. Securities House Co gave up 0.9 fil to end at 48 fils.
Bayan Investment Co dialed up 2.1 fils on back of over 1 million shares while Coast Investment Co and Ektittab Holding were up 0.5 fil each. KMEFIC added 2.5 fils and Al Mal Investment inched 0.2 fil into green.
Osoul rose 0.9 fil and KAMCO dialed up 1.8 fils. The company recorded a profit of KD 621,320 in the period between June and September, a 273.3 pct surge from the third quarter of 2016. For the first nine months, earnings rose 11.93 percent to KD 996,680.
Noor Financial Investment Co fell 0.9 fil to 56.3 fils and Sokouk Holding eased 0.1 fil to 49.9 fils, Amwal Investment and Al Imtiaz stood pat at 35.5 fils and 159 fils respectively whereas Unicap inched 0.1 fil up.
Gulf Insurance Co skidded 31 fils to 719 fils and National Real Estate Co dialed up 2 fils. Injazzat dropped 5 fils to 78 fils and Mabanee Co gained 6 fils. Mazaya Holding paused at 106 fils whereas Remal gave up 3 fils.
The bourse was been skidding so far during the week and has dived 60 points in last three sessions. It has slid 286 points from start of the month and is trading over 8 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Mezzan Holding Company posted a 10.5 pct year-on-year drop in profits to KD 2.8 million for the third quarter of 2017, in the first nine months of the year, earnings dipped by 23.1 percent to KD 10.1 million. Revenues grow 4.3 pct to KD 49.8 million in Q3 , while in 9M period was almost unchanged year-on-year at KD 157.6 million.
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.
Zain’s third quarter earnings dropped 7 percent to nearly KD 40 million, compared to KD 43 million for the same period last year. Revenues amounted to KD 259 million and EBITDA stood at KD 104 million. In the 9M period, profits slipped by 1.6 pct to KD 122 million.
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.
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