Kuwait bourse winds up in red; volume ‘shrinks’ – Jazeera Airways dips 24 fils; NBK ticks up

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KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: Kuwait stocks sagged on Wednesday snapping the 5-day advance. The price index fell 9.53 pts in volatile trade to 6922.48 points as profit taking dragged select counters. The broader market sentiment however remained skittish in absence of drivers.

The KSX 15 benchmark inched 0.67 pts up to 978.6 points and weighted index was little changed at 428.98 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank further following last session’s drop. 69.2 million shares changed hands – down 26.9 pct from Tuesday.

The sectors closed mostly in the red turf. Basic materials outperformed the rest with 1.57 percent gain whereas healthcare slid 4.11 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services garnered the highest market share of 33.1 percent and real estate stood next with 22.1 percent contribution

In the individual performers, National Bank of Kuwait took in 2 fils extending the early sessions gains whereas Gulf Bank clipped 2 fils to settle at 241 fil. Jazeera Airways dipped 24 fils to 545 fils and Humansoft Holding dived 49 fils.

Zain fell 5 fils to 487 fils with brisk trading and Ooredoo stood pat at KD 1.165. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) ticked 1 fil higher to 803 fils and Agility was unchanged at 865 fils off early highs.

Commercial Bank rose 3 fils to 398 fils and Kuwait Finance House eased 1 fil. The bank’s profit grew 17.1 percent to KD 43.06 million in the second quarter of 2017 as compared to the same period in the year before.

The market opened on tame note and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6938 pts and retreated thereafter as sentiment turned sour. It bottomed at 6896.11 points past the mid-session and clawed back some of its losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, KCPC vaulted 17 pct to 165 fils and Safat Energy rallied 6.8 pct to stand next. Madar For Finance and Investment slid 6.7 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Zain topped the volume with 9.2 million shares.

Despite the day’s downtick, the winners outnumbered the losers. 52 stocks advanced whereas 44 closed flat. Of the 125 counters active on Wednesday, 29 closed flat. 3188 deals worth KD 13.9 million were transacted – down 8.95 percent in value from the day before

National Industries Group was flat at 147 fils and Kuwait Cement Co too did not budge from its earlier close of 420 fils. Gulf Cable rose 7 fils to 514 fils while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co took in 1 fil.

Kuwait Foundry Co climbed 13 fils to 309 fils and ACICO Industries was up 4 fils at 265 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co gained 6 fils and Equipment Holding Co paused at 48 fils. NICBM was down 12 fils at 185 fils.

Kuwait National Cinema Co was flat at KD 1.400 and NAPESCO fell 5 fils to 840 fils. The company’s second quarter profits slid 26.8 pct to KD 1.73 million from same period in year before. During the first half, profits rose 6.9 percent to KD 4.04 million.

Unchanged

Educational Holding Group was unchanged at 335 fils and Acico Industries added 4 fils. The company has posted a profits of KWD 745,000 for the second quarter of 2017, a 35.8 pct drop from same period last year. In the first half , the earnings dipped 7.8% to KD 4.62 million.

Burgan Well Drilling Co dialed down 1 fil while Combined Group Contracting Co and OSOS stood pat at 550 fils and 120 fils. respectively. Kuwait Gulf Links Transport Co added 2.2 fils and Kuwait Cable Vision Co paused at 35 fils.

AWJ Holding rose 3 fils to 86 fils while Al Rai Media Group and ALACO took in 2 fils each. Mowasat Hospital Co tumbled 32 fils partly erasing Tuesday’s strong gains and Mezzan Holding climbed 10 fils.

In the banking sector, Burgan Bank and Al Mutahed were flat at 373 fils and 417 fils respectively whereas Boubyan Bank dialed up 2 fils. Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.

Kuwait International Bank took in 1 fil and Gulf Bank gave up 2 fils to settle at 241 fils. Warba Bank edged 1 fil into red after trading over 1 million shares.

National Investment Co and KIPCO were flat at 116 fils and 370 fils respectively whereas Kuwait Investment Co gave up 3 fils. Coast Investment Co and Bayan Investment Co nudged 0.3 fils higher.

KAMCO rose 0.4 fils to 79.9 fils and Unicap gave up 2.3 fils to settle at 43.5 fils. KMEFIC trimmed 0.3 fil and KFIC inched 1 fil into green. Sokouk Holding took in 0.2 fil and Al Mal Investment Co closed flat.

Noor Financial Investment Co eased 0.4 fil to 59.1 fil and Amwal Investment Co was up 2.1 fil at 44.5 fils. Ektittab Holding edged 0.7 fils lower and Al Imtiaz trimmed 1 fil. Gulf Insurance Co gained 10 fils.

National Real Estate Co fell 1 fil to 121 fils and Salhiya Real Estate Co rose 5 fils to 365 fils. Mabanee Co and Mazaya Holding paused at 799 fils and 114 fils respectively while United Real Estate Co gained 3 fils.

The market has been largely upbeat so far during the week and has climbed 37 points in last four sessions. It has rallied 71 points from the start of the month and is trading 20.43 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, 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.

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

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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