Kuwait bourse treads water in volatile trade – Americana tumbles 299 fils; Ooredoo gains

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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 27: Kuwait stocks trod water on Monday following last session’s upswing. The price index edged 2 pts lower in volatile trade to 6,254.67 pts amid mixed sentiment. The banking majors saw a slight pullback while some of the insurance shares soared.

The KSX 15 benchmark dipped 9.1 points to 906.11 pts taking the month’s losses to 51 points while weighted index fell 2.39 points. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for the third consecutive session. 76.64 million shares changed hands — up 11.67 pct from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Insurance outshone the rest with 2.22 pct gain whereas consumer goods slid 5.5 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services mustered the highest market share of 38.5 pct while banks trailed with 21 percent contribution.

In the individual performers, National Bank of Kuwait fell 3 fils to 721 fils after trading 4.8 million shares and Kuwait Finance House too surrendered some of its last session gains to close 6 fils down at 547 fils. Kuwait Food Co (Americana) however tumbled by a whopping 299 fils to KD 1.400.

Zain eased 1 fil to 445 fils with a volume of 6.6 million whereas Ooredoo climbed 20 fils to KD 1.080. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) dialed up 1 fil before settling at 730 fils and Agility gained 12 fils.

Burgan Bank clipped 2 fils and Boubyan Bank closed flat. The bank’s profits rose 13.8 pct to KD 12.2 million in the July-September period , as compared to KD 10.72 million in the year-ago period.

The market opened firm and headed north in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6,294 points amid strong buying in select counters and pulled sharply lower thereafter. It bottomed at 6,245 pts in the second half and clawed back slightly before closing almost unchanged.

Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) vaulted 19.2 pct to 130 fils and Hayat Communication climbed 16.4 percent to stand next. Automated Systems Co slid 17.65 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding Group topped the volume with 6.7 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s downtick, the losers outnumbered the winners. 42 stocks advanced whereas 52 closed lower. Of the 116 counters active on Monday, 22 closed flat. 3,653 deals worth KD 16.4 million were transacted — a 47.4 percent surge in value from the day before.

National Industries Group rose 3 fils to 147 fils on back of 4.7 million shares and Gulf Cable climbed 8 fils to 423 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co climbed 20 fils to 208 fils and Equipment Holding gave up 1.4 fils.

Jazeera Airways was flat at 657 fils and ALAFCO climbed 7 fils to 367 fils. Metal an Recycling Co trimmed 0.1 fil and ACICO Industries dropped 10 fils to 235 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co was unchanged at 275 fils and Kuwait Cement Co dived 55 fils. The company registered a 25.3 percent decline in profits to KD 2.27 m in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. In the nine-month period , profits was down by 19 percent to KD 12.25 mln.

NICBM rose 3 fils to 195 fils and Al Rai Media Group gave up 4 fils before settling at 105 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Go slipped 4 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co took in 2 fils.

Mezzan Holding Co dropped 9 fils to 761 fils and Educational Holding Group was up 5 fils at 307 fils. FutureKid was flat at 100 fils while KGL Logistic trimmed 0.6 fil.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank inched 1 fil into green whereas Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank stood pat at 400 fils and 305 fils respectively.

Kuwait International Bank dialed down 2 fils whereas Al Mutahed held ground at 340 fils and Kuwait International Bank followed suit. Warba Bank eased 1 fil to 212 fils.

KIPCO rose 4 fils to 292 fils and National Investment Co was flat at 101 fils after trading over 2 million shares. International Financial Advisors inched 0.1 fil into red and Coast Investment Co trimmed 0.2 fil.

Bayan Investment Co rose 1.8 fils to 40.9 fils and Securities House Co dialed up 0.7 fil. KMEFIC fell 2.5 fils to 22.5 fils while Arzan and Al Salam paused at 31 fils and 40 fils respectively. Unicap eased 0.7 flls to 37.3 fils.

Ektittab Holding gave up 2.1 fils and Sokouk Holding edged 1 fil into green. Al Imtiaz eased 1 fil to 159 fils and Noor Financial Investment Co ticked 0.1 fil up. Amwal ticked 0.9 fil higher to 35.5 fils.

Gulf Insurance Co soared 50 fils to 274 fils and Kuwait Insurance Co gained 22 fils. Warba Insurance Co was down 6 fils at 58 fils.

National Real Estate Co was unchanged at 123 fils and Mabanee C too did not budge from its earlier close of 730 fils. United Real Estate Co took in 0.9 fil whereas Salhiya Real Estate and Tamdeen Real Estate stalled at 354 fils and 400 fils respectively.

The bourse was been sluggish so far doing the week and is down 15 points in last two sessions. It has tumbled 2 41 points from start of the month and is trading over 8.8 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, NAPESCO posted a 104.4 percent surge to KD 3.96 million in the third quarter profits of 2017 from the same period last year. The company earned KD 8 mnl in the first three quarters — a 39.9 pct rise from KD 5.72 m in the same period last year.

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.

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.

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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