Kuwait bourse kicks off week with modest gains

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KFH climbs 4 fils; Zain slips

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 17: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Sunday as it extended last week’s gains. The price index climbed 24.18 pts in choppy trade to 6,355.9 pts paced by some of the banks and mid-caps while overall sentiment remained skittish The KSX 15 benchmark was little changed at 909.7 points while weighted index ticked 0.54 points higher to 400.3 pts.

The volume turnover meanwhile rose further to scale a one month high. 87.8 million shares changed hands — a q 6 pct rise from the previous session The sectors closed mostly in green. Oil and gas outpaced the rest with 2.47 pct gain whereas insurance dipped 3 percent, the worst performer of the day.

In terms of volume, financial services clocked the highest market share of 36.6 pct and real estate trailed with 25.6 percent contribution. In the individual shares, Kuwait Finance House extended last session’s gains with 4 fils rise on back of 3.7 million shares and Boubyan Bank followed suit to end at 425 fils.

Nafais Holding added to Thursday’s robust gains with a 50 fils jump to 850 fils. Zain slipped 6 fils to 433 fls after trading 4.3 million shares and Ooredoo dipped 41 fils to KD 1.014. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) soared 44 fils and Agility stood pat at 798 fils. National Bank of Kuwait fell 2 fils to 722 fils and Warba Bank rose 5 fils to 231 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. The market opened firm and pulled higher in early trade.

The main index hit the day’s highest level of 6,405 pts and drifted slightly lower thereafter in choppy trade as sentiment sagged. It slipped into red in the final minutes to bottom at 6,216 pts before clawing back to close with modest gains. Top gainer of the day, GFC spiked 13.7 pct to 70.5 fils and Independent Petroleum Group climbed 10.2 percent to stand next. NIH sank 15 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Inovest topped the volume with 14.3 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s upswing, the market spread was skewed towards the winners. 73 stocks advanced whereas 31 closed lower. Of the 119 counters active on Sunday, 15 closed flat. 3,115 deals worth KD 11.29 million were transacted — a 13.9 pct drop in value from the day before National Industries Group and Gulf Cable were unchanged at 151 fils and 428 fils respectively whereas Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co ticked 1 fil up whereas Shuaiba Industrials climbed 15 fils to 300 fils.

Jazeera Airways rose 5 fils to 660 fils while Automated Systems Co and Burgan Well Drilling took in 2 fils each to close at 152 fils and 86 fils respectively. ACICO Industries fell 3 fils to 248 fils and Educational Holding Group was up 4 fils at 304 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gained 8 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co inched 1 fil into red. Humansoft Holding was flat at KD 3.740 and Combined Group Contracting Co dialed down 2 fils. Metal and Recycling Co added 2.9 fils and NICBM closed flat at 213 fils.

Dipped
Al Rai Media Group rose 3 fils to 113 fils and Mezzan Holding dipped 6 fils to 774 fils. The company posted a 10.5 pct yearon- year drop in profits to KD 2.8 million for the third quarter of 2017, in the first nine months of the year, earnings dipped by 23.1 percent to KD 10.1 million. Mabanee s profits dropped 1.6 percent to KD 12.1 million in the third quarter of 2017 from Q3 of 2016.

In the first nine months of the year, profits rose marginally by 0.74 percent to KD 36.7 million. In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Kuwait International Bank held ground at 240 fils and 230 fils respectively whereas Commercial Bank was not traded during the session. AlMutahed rose 4 fils to 348 fils and Burgan Bank inched 1 fil into red. Al Ahli Bank gave up 2 fils before settling at 298 fils. National Investment Co trimmed 0.8 fil whereas Kuwait Investment Co and Arzan paused at 116 fils and 31 fils respectively. Coast Investment Co inched 0.2 fil up and International Financial Advisors dialed up 0.5 fil. Aayan Investment Co ticked 1 fil higher to 36.9 fils.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) and KMEFIC clipped 2 fils each to end at 107 fils and 23 fils respectively whereas KAMCO took in 1 fil. Bayan Investment Co eased 0.4 fil while KFIC and Sokouk Holding trimmed 0.4 fil each. Noor Financial Investment Co inched 0.1 fil higher and Tamdeen Investment Co gave up 2 fils. Unicap dialed up 0.1 fil and Al Deera closed 0.7 fil in green. Amwal fell 0.3 fil to 34.5 fils and Al Imtiaz Investment trimmed 1 fil.

Kuwait Insurance Co shed 10 fils and Ektittab Holding rose 0.8 fil to 31.3 fils. Wethaq Takaful slipped 5 fils to 39 fils. Mabanee Co was unchanged at 715 fils whereas Kuwait Real Estate Co and Nationa; Real Estate Co took in 1 fil each. Aqar Real Estate climbed 6 fils to 75 fils and Mazaya Holding dialed up 2 fils. The bourse was largely upbeat during last week.

The main index closed higher in three of the five sessions and has rallied 145 pts week-on-week. It has gained 170 points so far during the month and is trading over 10.57 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Mashaer Holding incurred a losses of KD 597,180 in the third quarter of 2017, as compared to KD 503,400 profit in the year ago period. In the first nine-months the company suffered losses of KD 19,280 as against KD 584,800 profits in the same period in 2016 and is attributed to a provision of tax claim valued at KD 1.03 million.

National Industries Group Holding 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. In the first nine months , the profits climbed to KD 7.35 million, as compared to losses of KD 5.06 million in 9M of 2016. 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. Asiya Capital Investments Co bounced back to black in the third quarter of 2017 with a profit of KD 503,900 as against loss of KD 590,000 in the same period in the year before. In the January-September period the losses totaled KD 794,290 narrowing from KD 4.63 million in the 9M of 2016.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

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