06/11/2017
9210 times read
06/11/2017
9210 times read
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 5: Kuwait stocks swung sharply lower on Sunday tracking regional downtrend. The price index dived 80.26 points to 6,468 points amid spurt in selling in some of the heavyweights led by banks and telecom service providers. The KSX 15 benchmark dipped 11 pts to 954.31 pts and is down 23 points so far during the month while weighted index retrated 5.18 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile soared past the 100 million mark to hit a three-week high. 103.2 million shares changed hands — over 50 pct surge from the last session. The sectors closed mostly in red. Parallel market, the only gainer of the day, inched 0.03 pct up whereas telecommunications sank 2.7 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services notched the highest market share of 33.54 pct and banks followed with over 26 percent contribution. Among notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 8 fils to 754 fils after trading over 2 million shares and Gulf Bank was down 5 fils at 249 fils taking the month’s losses to 10 fils. Humansoft Holding slid 49 fils and Jazeera Airways shed 12 fils to wind up at 635 fils. Zain slipped 9 fils to 471 fils with a volume of 5.9 million share and Ooredoo tumbled 80 fils to KD 1.109 after last session’s upswing. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) shed 12 fils and Agility inched 1 fil higher to 775 fils. Burgan Bank was flat at 334 fils and Kuwait Finance House dipped 12 fils after trading over 5 million shares. The bank recorded 7.6 percent increase in profits during the third quarter of 2017 to KD 56.22 million. The market opened weak and fell sharply in early trade. The main index continued to slide amid broad selling and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,429 pts half way into the session. It drifted sideways thereafter and clawed back some of the losses at close. Top gainer of the day, Metal and Recycling Co jumped 12.2 percent to 100 fils and Remal climbed 5 pct to stand next. Ithmaar Bank slid 9.9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ahli United Bank topped the volume with 13.9 million shares. Reflecting the day’s downswing, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the losers. 18 stocks advanced whereas 82 closed lower. Of the 120 counters active on Sunday, 20 closed flat. 3746 deals worth KD 17.44 million were transacted – a 37.2 pct jump in value from last session. Gulf Cable slipped 6 fils to 471 fils and Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co followed suit to end at 210 fils. Kuwait Portland Cement Co dropped 29 fils while Metal and Recycling Co rose 9.8 fils to 89.8 fils. ACICO Industries fell 4 fils to 259 fils and Equipment Holding Co inched 0.3 fil up. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gave up 6 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co clipped 1 fil. Burgan Well Drilling Co gave up 5 fils and KPPC trimmed 1.7 fils. Educational Holding Group was flat at 309 fils and Independent Petroleum Group too did not budge from its earlier close. The company has clocked a 1 pct rise in third quarter profits to KD 1.445 million from the same period last year. Rose ALAFCO rose 2 fils to 380 fils and NAPESCO ticked 1 fil into green. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co gave up 2 fils and KGL Logistics gave up 2.2 fils. Combined Group Contracting added 3 fils and UPAC held ground at 610 fils. Al Rai Media Group was unchanged at 112 fils and Mezzan Holding too did not budge from its earlier close of 812 fils. In the banking sector, Al Ahli Bank climbed 4 fils to 312 fils wheras Commercial Bank and AlMutahed paused at 400 fils and 390 fils respectively. Kuwait International Bank fell 5 fils to 233 fils. Boubyan Bank dropped 6 fils to 433 fils and Warba Bank gave up 3 fils. The bank’s third quarter earnings soared 428.4 pct to KD 2.23 million from same period of 2016. During the first nine months, the profits jumped 442 percent to KD 4.75 million. KIPCO rose 4 fils to 344 fils whereas National Investment Co dialed down 2 fils after trading 4.7 million shares. Kuwait Investment Co fell 3 fils to 123 fils and International Financial Advisors eased 1 fil to 32 fils. Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) slipped 8 fils to 32.1 fils and Bayan Investment Co inched 0.2 fil higher. Osoul Investment eased 2.9 fils and Commercial Facilities Co fell 5 fils to 173 fils. Coast Investment Co gave up 1.9 fils to settle at 38.3 fils. Noor Financial Investment Co clipped 2 fils and Al Imtiaz was down 4 fils at 167 fils. Amwal fell 3.7 fils to 35 fils and Sokouk Holding dialed up 0.3 fil. Unicap closed 1.4 fils in red and Securities House Co trimmed 1.6 fils. Mabanee Co fell 3 fils while Tamdeen Real Estate Co and Mazaya Holding gave up 2 fils each. National Real Estate Co inched 1 fil into green and Kuwait Real Estate Co eased 1 fil to 60 fils, The bourse was largely downbeat during last week. The price index closed lower in three of the five sessions and shed 59 points week-on-week. It dipped 144 pts during whole of October and is trading 12.5 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region. In the bourse related news, 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 million 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. 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. Aayan Real Estate’s third quarter profits slid 79.9 percent to KD 124,510 compared to KD 620,740 in same period last year. In the first nine months of 2017, was up 0.2 pct to KD 1.019 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