Kuwait bourse retreats; snaps five-day advance – NBK drops 8 fils; Mabanee flat

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KUWAIT CITY, June 5: Kuwait stocks swung lower on Monday, snapping the 5-day winning spree. The bourse dropped 26.82 points in volatile trade to 6,803.2 points as investors exited positions amid tepid sentiment. The heavyweights mostly sagged.

The KSX 15 gauge, dipped 9.55 pts to 906.79 points trimming the year’s gains to 21 pts while weighted index slipped 3.22 points. The volume turnover meanwhile as little changed. 48.62 million shares changed hands — a 1.2 pct fall from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Consumer goods outpaced the rest with 5.8 pct jump whereas financial services shed 1.52 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, financial services clocked the highest market share of 25.17 percent while banks was a close second with 25.09 pct contribution.

Among the notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait dipped 8 fils to 675 fils after trading 1.5 million shares and Commercial Bank slid 15 fils to 330 fils. KIPCO slipped 6 fils to 344 fils and Humansoft Holding extended Sunday’s losses with a 80 fils tumble.

Zain fell 5 fils to 421 fils and Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) shed 14 fils to settle at 821 fils. Logistics major Agility dipped 18 fils to 725 fils whereas Ooredoo was not traded during the session.

Kuwait Finance House fell 6 fils to 480 fils and Warba Bank gave up 4 fils. The bank has posted a 296.3% jump in its profits to KD 1..3 million for the first quarter of 2017 as compared to the same period last year.

The market opened weak and pulled lower in early trade. The price index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,774 pts and clawed back into green territory. It peaked at 6,831 points past the mid-session and retreated thereafter before closing with moderate losses.

Top gainer of the day, Eyas rallied 19 fils to KD 1.190 and NICBM jumped 10.8 percent to stand next. Osoul Investment Co slid 8.33 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and AUB topped the volume with 6.6 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s downswing market spread was heavily skewed towards the losers. 14 stocks advanced whereas 68 closed lower. Of the 101 counters active on Monday, 19 closed flat, 1,963 deals worth KD 8.82 million were transacted —  a 5.4 pct rise in value from the day before

National Industries Group fell 3 fils to 107 fils and Gulf Cable gave up 3 fils to close at 420 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co was flat at 210 fils while Contracting and Marine Services Co extended Sunday’s gains with 5 fils rise on back of 2.5 million shares.

Jazeera Airways inched 1 fil higher to 474 fil whereas ALAFCO eased 1 fil to 304 fil. Boubyan Petrochemical Co took in 2 fils while Al Qurain Petrochemical gave up 3 fils before closing at 337 fils. Metal and Recycling Co inhed 1 fil into red.

Fell

Kuwait Foundry Co fell 4 fils and ACICO followed suit to end at 276 fils. The company’s first quarter profits rose by 0.78 pct to KD 3.88 mln as compared to KD 3.85 million in Q1 of 2016. Net operating profits was up 11.8 percent to KD 9.87 million in the first quarter.

Equipment Hoding Co was flat at 50 fils while NAPESCO shed 17 fils. The company’s 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.

Educational Holding Group dialed down 2 fils while National Ranges Co (Mayadeen) clipped 1 fil. KPPC trimmed 1 fil and Zimah Holding was down 2.5 fils at 53 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Links Co dropped 5 fils to 67 fils and KGL Logistics Co slipped 3.3 fils to 51.3 fils. Mezzan Holding was down 18 fils at 832 fils extending last session’s losses.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank clipped 2 fils and Kuwait International

Bank dialed up 2 fils to end at 244 fils. Al Ahli Bank and AlMutahed were not traded during the session.Burgan Bank fell 2 fils ton 322 fils and Boubyan Bank closed 3 fils in red.

National Investment Co was flat at 104 fils and International Financial Advisors dialed down 2.7 fils to wind up at 35 fils. Securities House Co and Gulf Investment House clipped 2 fils each whereas Securities Group paused at 41 fils.

Bayan Investment was unchanged at 51.5 fils and KFIC fell 2 fils to 40 fils. Al Salam eased 1.7 fils to 51.4 fils and Ekttitab Holding trimmed 1.3 fils. Osoul Investment slipped 5 fils to 55 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co edged 1 fil into red while Sokouk Holding erased 0.9 fil after trading 1 million shares. Kuwait Investment Co eased 0.5 fil and Aayan closed 1.5 fils lower.

Mabanee Co and Tamdeen Investment Co were unchanged at 779 fils and 360 fils respectively while National Real Estate Co dropped 4 fils. Kuwait Real Estate Co inched 0.7 fils lower and Salhiya Real Estate gave up 5 fils. Mazaya Holding was down 4 fils at 110 fils.

The market has been mixed so far during the week and has shed 10 points in last two sessions. It had slid 60 points during whole of May and is trading 18.36 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 208 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Kuwait Finance and Investment (KFIC) rebounded to post a net profit of KD 146,350 in the first three months of 2017, from KD 255,510 loss in first quarter of 2016. Operating income grew 76% year-on-year to reach KD 1.65 million.

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.

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.

Mowasat Healthcare has registered a 40.2% increase in net profits in the first quarter of 2017, to reach KD 1.92 million as compared to KD 1.37 million in the year before period.

Al Ahleia Insurance’s first quarter net profit dropped by 14.5% in the first to KD 2.88 million from KD 3.37 million in Q1 of 2016. Operational income dipped 39.6 pct to KD 1.58 million.

National Ranges Company’s (Mayadeen) losses shrank by 18.2 pct in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 642,620 from about KD 785,610 in same period of 2016.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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