Kuwait’s bourse rally slackens; volume up – Gulf Bank slips 10 fils; Portland Cement gains

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KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Kuwait bourse’s rally lost steam on Thursday as it wound up the week with modest gains. The price index climbed 33.21 pts in volatile trade to 6,852.3 pts even as profit taking dragged some of the heavyweights even as some of the mid and small caps shone on speculative buying.

The KSX 15 benchmark fell 4.91 pts to 987.7 pts trimming the month’s gains to 102 points while weighted index edged 0.38 pts lower. The volume turnover meanwhile swelled again after Wednesday’s pull back. 783.9 million shares changed hands — 9.33 pct rise from Wednesday.

The sectors closed mostly in the green turf. Technology outperformed the rest with 4.86 pct surge whereas parallel market shed 0.82 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, financial services mustered the highest market share of 38.4 pct while real estate trailed with 32.6 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, Gulf Bank of Kuwait and Commercial Bank of Kuwait down 10 fils each whereas Burgan Bank slipped 5 fils. KIPCO was unchanged and Mabanee Co gave up 10 fils before settling at KD 0.900.

Zain fell 5 fils to 485 fils after trading 5.9 million shares whereas Wataniya Telecom (Ooredoo) recouped last session’s losses with 20 fils gain. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) rose 10 fils extending Wednesday’s rise while Agility paused at 710 fils.

Kuwait Finance House was flat at 610 fils and National Bank of Kuwait followed suit. The bank’s net profit has surged by 40% in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2016 to KD 75.92 million from KD 54.24m in Q4, 2015. Profits for fiscal 2016 was up 4.6 pct to KD 295.18 million.

The market opened steady and fell sharply in early trade. The main index plumbed to day’s lowest level of 6,772.49 pts and clawed back thereafter. It continued to rise till half way into the session and moved sideways amid mixed sentiment before revving up in the final minutes.

Top gainers of the day Arab Real Estate Co and Wethaq Takaful rallied 9.62 percent to 57 fils and 59 fils respectively while Independent Petroleum Group slid 6.33 pct, the steepest decliner of the day. Aayan topped the volume with 127.4 million shares.

Despite the day’s upswing, the losers slightly outnumbered the winners. 53 stocks advanced whereas 53 closed lower. Of the 155 counters active on Thursday, 47 closed flat. 12,290 deals worth KD 61.68 mln were transacted — almost unchanged in value from the day before.

In the banking sector, Al Ahli Bank was unchanged at 335 fils and Ahli United Bank was up 5 fils at 430 fils. Boubyan Bank slipped 5 fils to 415 fils and Warba Bank clipped 2 fils before settling at 242 fils.

Kuwait International Bank were unchanged at 335 fils and 230 fils respectively. KIB’s fourth quarter earnings increased to KD 4.72 million in last quarter of 2016 from KD 4.25 million in same period last year.

Budge

Kuwait Investment Co was flat at 106 fils and National Investment Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 128 fils. International Financial Advisors dialed down 2 fils and Commercial Facilities Co closed 4 fils in red.

Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) eased 2 fils to 110 fils whereas Bayan Investment Co and KFIC gave up 1 fils each. KMEFIC added 2.5 fils while Osoul Investment Co rose 2 fils to 73 fils. Noor Financial Investment Co closed 1 fil lower.

KAMCO took in 2 fils while Unicap and Al Deera Holding Co were down 1 fil each at 58 fils and 48.5 fils respectively. Tamdeen Investment Co gained 10 fils.

Salhiya Real Estate Co climbed 10 fils to 405 fils while Mazaya Holding Co clipped 2 fils. National Real Estate Co was unchanged at 132 fils and United Real Estate Co was down 4 fils at 106 fils.

National Industries Group was flat at 160 fils and Kuwait Cement Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 435 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co climbed 8 fils to 226 fils while Contracting and Marine Services Co was up 5 fils at 67 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co rallied 19 fils and Shuaiba Industrial Co jumped 20 fils to 310 fils. Metal and Recycling Co added 5 fils while Boubyan Petrochemical Co was up 10 fils at 560 fils. Hilal Cement Co gave up 6 fils to close at 114 fils.

Jazeera Airways was flat at 690 fils and ALAFCO followed suit to wind up at 248 fils. NICBM and Equipment Holding took in 2 fils each whereas Humansoft Holding stood pat at KD 3.000. Al Rai Media Group clipped 2 fils.

Gulf Cable climbed 25 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement Co soared 60 fils to KD 1.080. The company has registered a net profit of KD 1.84m in Q4 of 2016 as against losses of KD 467,000 in same period last year. The board has recommended cash dividend of 80% or 80 fils per share for 2016.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co paused at 69 fils whereas KGL Logistics inched 1 fil into red. Combined Group Contracting Co climbed 10 fils to 510 fils and OSOS followed suit to end at 210 fils. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co stalled at 285 fils.

Mezzan Holding was unchanged at KD 1.000 and Zimah Holding was down 3 fils at 66 fils. Yiaco Medical gained 10 fils and Hilal Cement Co slipped 6 fils to 114 fils. ACICO Industries stood pat at 300 fils.

The market has been bullish during the week. The main index closed higher in all the five sessions and soared 417 points week-on-week. It has rallied 1,102 points from start of the month after gaining 2.37 pct during whole of 2016. KSE, with 208 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Shuaiba Industrial Co has recorded a net profit of KD 1.66 million and earnings per share of 20.94 fils in 2016, 9M up from net profit of KD 1.33 mln and earnings per share of 16.83 fils in same period of 2015.

Jeeran Holding Co has logged a net profit of KD 431,750 and earnings per share of 3.17 fils in the first nine months of 2016 up sharply from net profit of KD 177,518 and earnings per share of 1.30 fils in the 9M of 2015.

Kuwait Building Materials Mfg has registered a net profit of KD 159,204 and earnings per share of 5.3 fils in the January-September period as against net profit of KD 363,059 and earnings per share of 12 fils in the same period last year.

Hilal Cement Company has logged a net loss of KD 3,709 and loss per share of 0.04 fil in the January-September period of 2016 narrowing from a net loss of KD 117,151 and LPS of 1.39 fils in same period in 2015.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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