Kuwait bourse extends gains, volume ticks up – NBK rallies 5 fils; Zain slips

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KUWAIT CITY, Aug 21: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Monday extending its gains to fourth straight session. The price index rose 12.78 points in volatile session to 6,913.36 pts paced by banks and the some of the mid-caps. Other heavy weights however closed mixed.

The KSX 15 climbed 8 pts to 973.38 points taking the month’s gains to 30 points while weighted index added 2.6 points . The volume turnover meanwhile rose further to hit a three-week high. 122.6 million shares changed hands — a 17.4 pct increase from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in the green turf. Insurance outperformed the rest with 3.74 percent gain whereas basic materials shed 0.51 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services clocked the highest market share of 30.59 percent and real estate trailed with 27.9 pct contribution.

Among the prime movers, National Bank of Kuwait rallied 5 fils on back of 2.3 million shares and Kuwait Finance House climbed 8 fils with a volume of over 5 million. KIPCO rose 5 fils and Kuwait Food Co (Americana) partly recouped Sunday’s steep losses with a 30 fils gain

Zain fell 2 fils to 507 fils and Ooredoo added 5 fils . Kuwait Telecommunication Co (VIVA) seesawed before closing flat at 803 fils and Agility gained 22 fils to wind up at 869 fils.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait advanced 10 fils and Boubyan Bank stood pat at 430 fils off early lows. The bank has posted an profit of KD 11.21 mln in the second quarter of 2017, up 14.3 pct from same period last year.

The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index moved sideways before falling sharply half way into the session amid a brief selling bout. It bottomed at 6,886 points and rebounded to scale the day’s highest mark of 6,926.39 pts before heading south again. The bourse however clawed back in the final minutes to wind up in green.

Top gainer of the day, Gulf Insurance Co soared 13.92 pct to 900 fils and Amar For Finance and Leasing climbed 11.76 pct to stand next. Gulf Finance Co tumbled 19.76 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Abyaar Real Estate topped the volume with 8.9 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s upswing, the winners outled the losers. 63 stocks advanced whereas 40 closed lower. Of the 130 counters active on Monday, 40 closed flat. 4,572 deals worth KD 21.59 million were transacted — a 62.9 pct surge in value from the day before.

Jazeera Airways slid 39 fils to 535 fils and ALAFCO extended last session’s gains with a 6 fils rise to 380 fils. Mowasat Hospital Co dived 78 fils to 402 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co gave up 7 fils.

Kuwait National Cinema Co jumped 70 fils whereas Automated Systems Co was up 4 fils at 165 fils. Educational Holding Group slipped 6 fils to 343 fils and NICBM closed flat.

Gulf Cable fell 3 fils to 505 fils and National Industries Group closed flat. The company posted a profit of KD 2.09 million in Q2 against a loss of KD 4.75 million in the same period last year. In the first half it logged a profit of KD 5.23 million.

Vaulted

NAPESCO was down 5 fils at 845 fils and Humansoft Holding vaulted 50 fils. The company has recorded a 19.9 pct year-on-year rise in second quarter profits to KD 6.03 million

Kuwait Foundry Co dipped 8 fils to 290 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement was down 10 fils at 970 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 4 fils to 573 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co eased 1 fil.

Burgan Well Drilling Co fell 1 fil to 85 fils and AWJ Holding clipped 2 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co trimmed 0.1 fil and KGL Logistics closed 0.7 fil in red.

Equipment Holding fell 2.9 fils to 46 fils and Al Rai Media Group gave up 1 fil. Mezzan Holding extended previous session’s losses with 34 fils slide to 751 fils.

In the banking sector, Burgan Bank took in 1 fil whereas Gulf Bank and Kuwait International Bank both paused at 244 fils. Al Mutahed added 2 fils and Warba Bank closed flat at 266 fils. Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.

Kuwait Investment Co and NIH ticked 1 fil up each whereas National Investment Co held ground at 115 fils after trading 3.2 million shares. International Financial Advisors added 1.8 fils on back of 2.3 million shares.

KFIC climbed 3.5 fils to 45 fils while Coast Investment Co and Al Deera Holding trimmed 0.9 fil each. Securities House Co took in 1.6 fils whereas Sokouk Holding gave up 0.4 fil.

Noor Financial Investment Co fell 2.3 fils to 60.2 fils whereas Osoul Investment Co and Tamdeen Investment Co stalled at 59 fils and 310 fils respectively. Amwal Investment Co was down 1.5 fils at 43 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co closed 5 fils higher.

National Real Estate Co and Salhiya Real Estate Co paused at 122 fils and 367 fils respectively whereas Kuwait Real Estate Co dialed up 1.6 fils. Mabanee Co rose 6 fils while Tamdeen Real Estate was unchanged at 410 fils.

The market was been trending higher so far during the week and has climbed 28 points in last two sessions. It has gained 62 points from the start of the month and is trading 20.27 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Mabanee Company posted a 1.55 pct rise in profits to KD 12.55 million for the second quarter from Q2 of previous year. In the first half , profits ticked 1 pct up to KD 24.61 million from corresponding period of 2016.

Kuwait Investment Co profits soared 158.3 percent to KD 2.97 million in the second quarter of 2017 from same period last year. In the January-June period, profits surged 283.6 pct year-on-year to KD 7.71 million.

Kuwait Real Estate Co’s net profits surged 51.2 pct year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017 to KD 1.49 million. In the first half , profits rose 10.5 percent to KD 3.16 million.

Imtiaz Investment Group’s second quarter profits soared by a whopping 1,041 pct to KD 19.97 million from same period in 2016. During the first six months, profits surged 626.3% to KD 32.32 million.

Aqar Real Estate Investment’s second quarter profits surged 27 pct to KD 350,410 mln from same period last year helped by increase of rent revenues. The revenues rose 23.4 percent to KD 687,320 in the first half while operating revenues climbed 21.6 percent to KD 987,070.

Injazzat Real Estate Development Company registered a 32.3 pct drop to KD 511,900 for the second quarter of 2017 from Q2 of 2016. In the first six months, the profits soared 36.1 percent to KD 2.86 million.

By John Mathews – Arab Times Staff

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