Kuwait’s bourse winds up in green; volume recedes – NBK rallies 20 fils; Mabanee slips

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KUWAIT CITY, May 17: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Wednesday extending the gains to second straight session. The bourse, after a sluggish start, rose 6.77 pts to 6,732.07 points helped by uptick in some of the banks even as the broader sentiment remained mixed.

The KSX benchmark climbed 8.71 pts to 925.89 points taking the month’s gains to 6 points while weighted index was up 2.67 pts at 405.13 points. The volume turnover meanwhile retreated after surging to month’s highest level on Tuesday. 256.3 million shares changed hands — a 6.2 pct fall from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Basic materials outperformed the rest with over 1 pct gain whereas insurance shed 1.88 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, real estate notched the highest market share of 40.7 pct and financial services followed with 33.5 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait rallied 20 fils to 690 fils on back of 1.5 million shares and Kuwait Finance House was up 10 fils after trading over 3 million shares. Mabanee Co gave up last session’s gains to close 10 fils down at 790 fils.

Zain fell 5 fils to 440 fils with a volume of 3.7 million and Ooredoo shed 20 fils to close at KD 1.220. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) was unchanged at 850 fils off early lows whereas Agility was not traded during the session.

Burgan Bank was flat at 335 fils after vacillating narrowly earlier in the session and Warba Bank took in 2 fils. The bank has posted a 296.3% jump in its profits to KD 1.3 million for the first quarter of 2017.

The market opened on tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index slipped briefly into red to plumb the day’s lowest level of 6,716.15 points and clawed back. It rose sharply half way to the session amid spurt in buying in select counters and peaked at 6,744.98 points. It gave up some of the gains thereafter before closing with marginal gains.

Top gainer of the day, Mayadeen rallied 9.8 pct to 28 fils while REAM climbed 8 pct to stand next. Bayan Investment Co sank 6.78 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Sokouk Holding topped the volume of over 30 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s gain, the winners slightly outnumbered the losers. 40 stocks advanced whereas 36 closed lower. Of the 122 counters active on Wednesday, 46 closed flat. 5,047 deals worth KD 20.38 million were transacted — a 4.1 pct drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group pulled up from Tuesday’s shallow trough to close 4 fils higher at 120 fils and Gulf Cable was down 10 fils at 425 fils. Independent Petroleum Group slid 25 fils.

Kuwait Food Co (Americana) and Kuwait National Cinema Co paused at KD 2.250 and KD 1.100 respectively while Educational Holding Group added 5 fils. NICBM stalled at 212 fils.

Rose

Kuwait Portland Cement Co and Kuwait Cement Co were unchanged at 970 fils and 470 fils respectively whereas Automated Systems Co gave up 10 fils to settle at 236 fils.

Jazeera Airways rose 5 fils to 485 fils and Alafco climbed 10 fils to 280 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co was flat at 224 fils and Metal and Recycling Co too did not budge from its earlier close.

NAPESCO dipped 20 fils to KD 1.600 extending an identical fall in the day before whereas Humansoft Holding gained 20 fils. KPPC and Burgan Well Drilling Co clipped 1 fil each.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co was flat at 64 fils and KGL Logistics Co inched 1 fil higher to 56 fils. Al Rai Media Group was unchanged at 128 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co followed suit.

Mezzan Holding rose 10 fils to KD 1.000 while Zimah Holding gave up 2 fils to close at 54 fils. AWJ Holding dialed down 2 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gained 10 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co closed flat.

Commercial Bank rose 10 fils to 375 fils whereas Gulf Bank and Al Ahli Bank held ground at 244 fils and 310 fils respectively. Ahli United Bank was up 5 fils at 410 fils extending and identical rise in the day before.

Kuwait International Bank stagnated at 248 fils and Burgan Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of 335 fils. Boubyan Bank stood pat at 410 fils off early lows.

KIPCO and Al Mal Investment Co were flat at 385 fils and 17.5 fils respectively whereas National Investment Co gave up 2 fils. Securities House Co inched 0.5 fils higher and Securities Group Co paused at 98 fils.

KAMCO and Al Deera Holding were unchanged at 79 fils and 34 fils respectively while Sokouk Holding inched 0.5 fil into red. KFIC took in 1 fils and Aayan Investment eased1 fils to 45 fils.

Al Imtiaz fell 4 fils to 150 fils while Noor Financial Investment Co and Tamdeen Investment Co paused at 53 fils and 310 fils respectively. Kuwait Insurance Co dipped 15 fils to 250 fils.

United Real Estate Co dialed up 1 fil whereas Kuwait Real Estate stood pat at 59 fils. Mazaya Holding was up 2 fils at 114 fils while Salhiya Real Estate rose 5 fils to 380 fils.

The market has been largely buoyant so far during the week and has climbed 61 points in last three sessions. It has shed 110 points from start of the month and is trading 17.12 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 208 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Ooredoo Kuwait has posted 26.6 pct jump in profits during the first quarter of 2017 to KD 12.93 million from KD 10.21 million) in same period last year. It had recorded a growth of 75% in profits to KD 46.67 million during 2016.

Injazzat Real Estate Development has recorded a 71.5% surge in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 2.35 million from KD 1.37 million in Q1 of 2016, The earnings were boosted by the sale of one of the company’s assets at a profit of KD 1.97 million. In 2016 the profit was up 2.9% at KD 3.2 mln.

National Petroleum Services (Napesco) first quarter profit surged 62.7% year-on-year to KD 2.31 million as to compared to KD 1.42 million in same period last year. It company had earned KD 7.71 million in 2016, up 35.6% from 2015.

Aayan Real Estate has recorded a 164.7 percent jump in its profits to KD 536,890 for the first quarter of 2017 from same period in the year before. During 2016, the profit saw a 1.5% uptick to KD 2.75 million in 2016 from the previous year.

Kuwait National Cinema Co has registered a 26.17 pct jump in profits to KD 3.23 million during the first quarter of 2017 from same period in 2016. The net operating profit surged 61.3% to KD 1.3 million.

By John Mathews – Arab Times Staff

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