Kuwait stocks rebound as volume rises further – NBK rallies 17 fils; Ooredoo dips

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 12: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Tuesday, stemming the five-day losing streak. The price index climbed 41.98 pts to 6,197.58 pts after a mid-session plunge amid renewed buying across the sectors paced by banks and other heavyweights.

The KSX 15 benchmark rebounded 11.41 pts to 894.77 points while weighted index added 3.71 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for the second day after turning markedly anemic earlier in the week. 67.9 million shares changed hands — a 51 pct surge from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in the green turf. Insurance outshone the rest with 1.76 percent gain whereas telecommunications shed 0.63 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services accounted for the highest market share of 71.3 pct and parallel market followed with 15.7 percent contribution.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait rallied 17 fils on back of over 1 million shares and Kuwait Finance House was up 3 fils with a volume of 1 million shares. KIPCO rose 3 fils to 293 fils and Mabanee Co recouped most of Monday’s losses with a 12 fils rise to 694 fils.

Zain climbed 7 fils on back of 2.8 million shares whereas Ooredoo slid 38 fils to KD 1.052. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) shed 13 fils and Agility was up 6 fils at 776 fils extending Monday’s gains.

Boubyan Bank scaled 6 fils and Warba Bank added 5 fils. The bank’s third quarter earnings soared 428.4 pct to KD 2.23 million from same period of 2016.

The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index continued to drift listlessly and dipped sharply half way into the session to plumb the day’s lowest level of 6,099 pts. It rebounded and traded flat again before revving up in the final minutes to close with impressive gains.

Top gainer of the day, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co rallied 19.8 pct to 66.3 fils and BIIHC jumped 18.8 percent to stand next. Kuwait Cable Vision Co slid 18.7 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Inovest topped the volume with 19.4 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s upswing, the winners vastly outled the losers. 63 stocks advanced whereas 36 closed lower. Of the 116 counters active on Tuesday, 17 closed flat. 2,209 deals worth KD 7.84 million were transacted — down by a marginal 0.84 pct in value from the day before.

National Industries Group took in 2 fils and Gulf Cable rose 8 fils to 423 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co stood pat at 215 fils and Metal and Recycling Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 74.9 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co fell 2 fils to 268 fils and ACICO Industries was up 3 fils at 245 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rallied 13 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co held ground at 317 fils. Equipment Holding Co gave up 2.1 fils to end at 33 fils.

Soared

Nafais Holding soared 50 fils to 700 fils recouping last session’s drop while Educational Holding Co ticked 1 fil up. KGL Logistics Co fell 1.2 fils to 47.1 fils and OSOS stood pat at 92 fils off slight early lows.

Kuwait Portland Cement Co dipped 16 fils and Kuwait Cement Co gained 8 fils. The company has logged 25.3 percent decline in profits to KD 2.27 million in the third quarter of 2017 compared to the same period last year. In the nine-month period, profits dipped 19 percent to KD 12.25 million.

Jazeeera Airways dialed up 2 fils and ALAFCO gained 6 fils. The company has registered a 133.3 pct surge in profits to KD 32.82 million for the fiscal year that ended Sept 30. The company’s board of directors has recommended cash dividends of 10 fils per share.

Automated Systems Co rose 3 fils to 135 fils and Burgan Well Drilling Co climbed 6 fils to 74 fils. Al Rai Media Holding added 3 fils whereas EK Holding scaled 8 fils. Mezzan Holding gained 9 fils and AFAQ was up 5 fils at 95 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank took in 2 fils and Al Ahli BanK rose 9 fils to 305 fils with razor thin trading. Commercial Bank was not traded during the session.

Kuwait International Bank added 4 fils with a volume of over 1 million and Al Mutahed closed flat at 350 fils. Burgan Bank gave up 3 fils before settling at 300 fils.

Kuwait Investment Co and Commercial Facilities Co dialed up 2 fils each whereas International Financial Advisors trimmed 0.9 fil. Coast Investment Co was unchanged at 32.9 fils and Securities House Co inched 0.1 fil into red.

Bayan Investment Co took in 0.7 fil whereas KMEFIC and KFIC were flat at 25 fils and 45 fils respectively. Unicap added 2.2 fils while Al Deera Holding and Sokouk trimmed 0.1 fil each. Ektittab Holding dialed up 0.4 fil.

Noor Financial Investment Co and Mader inched 1 fil each whereas Al Imtiaz dialed up 2 fils. Gulf Insurance Co and Warba Insurance Co eased 1 fil each before settling at 698 fils and 60 fils respectively.

Kuwait Real Estate Co was flat at 55.7 fils and National Real Estate Co was up 4 fils at 124 fils. Aqar Real Estate Co diald up 2 fils and Al Aqaria clipped 2.5fils. Mazaya Holding ticked 1 fil higher to 108 fils.

The bourse has been mixed so far during the week and has added 10 pts in last three sessions. It is little changed so far during the month and is trading 7.82 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Warba Insurance Company posted a loss of KD 3.1 million during the second quarter ended on June 30, 2017 as compared to profits of KD 2.2 million in the 2nd quarter of 2016. The loss per share stood at 19.12 fils in Q2 of 2017 abd current assets shrank by 10.1% to KD 43.54 million by the end of the second quarter.

Gulf Bank of Kuwait’s total shareholders’ equity stood at KD 591.2 million by the end of September 2017. The net revenue from interest totaled KD 97.2 mln in January — September period while operating profits stood at KD 89.7 million. Public provisions amounted to KD 225 million, accounting for 38 pct of the total shareholders’ equity.

Asiya Capital Investments Co 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.

By John Mathews – Arab Times Staff

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