Kuwait’s stocks tread water, volume shrinks – Americana rallies 20 pct; Ooredoo dips

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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 14: Kuwait stocks trod water on Wednesday after see-sawing sharply earlier in the week. The price index pulled back from steep early trough to close 0.61 pts lower at 6,250.06 points. Most of the heavyweights eked modest gains while selling pressure hammered select counters.

The KSX 15 measure bounced 13.14 points to 919.13 pts trimming month’s losses to 48 points while weighted index gained 4.5 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank to a three-week low. 59.98 million shares changed hands — a 29 pct dip from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Consumer goods outpaced the rest with 4.7 pct gain whereas real estate shed 0.99 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, banks garnered the highest market share of 31 pct and financial services trailed with 26.2 percent contribution.

In the individual performers, National Bank of Kuwait rose 3 fils to 735 fils extending last session’s uptick while Kuwait Finance House rallied 5 fils on back of 5.2 million shares. Investment major KIPCO was up 3 fils at 298 fils.

Zain rallied 8 fils to 458 fils and Ooredoo dipped 17 fils to KD 1.089 partly erasing Monday’s gains. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) inched 1 fil into red and Agility climbed 14 fils to 747 fils.

Gulf Bank rose 4 fils to 241 fils and Commercial Bank stood pat at 400 fils. The bank posted a net profit of KD 12.45 million in third quarter of 2017, down 22 pct from KD 15.98 million in the year-ago period.

The market opened on a tame note and headed lower in early trade. It drifted sideways thereafter and dipped sharply amid brief selling bout. It plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,163 points before clawing back most of the losses in final minutes.

Top gainer of the day Kuwait Food Co (Americana) vaulted 20 pct to KD 1.680 while KCPC jumped 18 percent to stand next. Ream sank 20 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ithmaar Bank topped the volume with 9.7 million shares.

Despite the day’s tame closing, the market spread as skewed towards the winners. 55 stocks advanced whereas 45 closed lower. Of the 121 counters active on Tuesday, 21 closed flat. 2,865 deals worth KD 11.21 million were transacted — down 16.80 pct in value from the day before National Industries Group inched 1 fil up to 142 fils and Gulf Cable scaled 38 fils. NIG has logged a profit of KD 2.12 million in the third quarter of 2017, rebounding from losses of KD 700,000 in the same period last year.

Jazeera Airways rose 6 fils to 648 fils and ALAFCO climbed 10 fils to 368 fils. Kuwait Cement Co added 6 fls while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co clipped 2 fils before closing at 207 fils.

Humansoft Holding slid 49 fils to KD 3.800 partly erasing last session’s gains while NAPESCO was up 9 fils at 801 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co dropped 10 fils and ACICO Industries dialed up 1 fil.

Slipped

Burgan Well Drilling Co slipped 8 fls to 51 fils and Combind Group Contracting Co closed flat. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gained 11 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co followed suit.

Independent Petroleum Group was unchanged at 365 fils and Nafais shed 10 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co eased 0.1 fil to 58.9 fils and KGL Logistics Co added 0.8 fil.

Al Rai Media Group inched 1 fil into green and UPAC gave up 5 fils. Educational Holding Group ticked 1 fil higher to 309 fils and Equipment Holding Co gave up 2 fils to end at 36.2 fils. Mezzan Holding was down 10 fils at 780 fils.

Burgan Bank was flat at 308 fils while Kuwait International Bank ticked 1 fil into green. Boubyan Bank gave up 2 fils and Al Ahli Bank took in 2 fils to end at 312 fils. Warba Bank inched 1 fil higher to 211 fils.

Kuwait Investment Co dialed up 1 fil on back of 1.4 million shares while International Financial Advisors and Alola eased 0.2 fil each whereas Coast Investment Co paused at 31.9 fils. Securities House Co trimmed 0.4 fil.

Bayan Investment Co was unchanged at 38 fils whereas Kuwait Financial Centre and Unicap added 1 fil each. Arzan ticked 0.6 fil into green and KFIC was up 2.1 fils at 45.5 fils.

Tamdeen Investment Co climbed 9 fils to 349 fils while Noor Financial Investment Co trimmed 0.3 fil. Sokuk Investment Co rose 1.1 fils while Al Madina and Al Imtiaz stalled at 38.2 fils and 158 fils respectively.

Kuwait Insurance Co clipped 2 fils and Ahleia Insurance Co dipped 12 fils to 400 fils. Warba Insurance Co climbed 7 fils to 60 fils and First Takaful Insurance Co gave up 4 fils.

Mabanee Co fell 2 fils and Al Mazaya Holding added 3 fils. The company’s profits were nearly flat at KD 2.703 million in the third quarter of 2017 from the year before period. In the first nine-months, earnings ticked up by 0.56 pct KD 6.875 million.

Kuwait Real Estate Co edged 0.8 fil into green and National Real Estate Co gained 7 fils. Aayan Real Estate Co added 2 fils and Al Aqaria gave up 3 fils.

The bourse has been mixed so far during the week and has shed 8 points in last three sessions. It has tumbled 303 points from start of the month and is trading over 8.74 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Agility has recorded net profits of KD 49.2 million in the first nine months of 2017 while the return on equity increased by 13.7 percent to 39.1 fils per share. In the July-September period, the earnings soared 714 pct to WD 17.8 million, increasing by 714% year-on-year.

Kuwait Finance and Investment has posted a 35 percent year-on-year surge in profits to KD 299,483 for the first nine months of 2017 while earnings per share surged 35 percent to 1.0 fil. Total operating revenue rose 10% percent to KD 4.015 million during the period.

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.

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.

Credit Rating and Collection Co’s (Tahssilat) losses widened to KD 269,840 in the third quarter of 2017 from KD 61,020 in the same period last year. During the nine-month period, it logged a profit of KD 830,200 against a loss of KD 291,200 in the same period in 2016.

By John Mathews – Arab Times Staff

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