Kuwait pencils modest gains in volatile trade – Commercial Bank jumps 25 fils; KIPCO flat

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KUWAIT CITY, Feb 6: Kuwait stocks staged a modest rebound on Monday after falling sharply in the last session. The price index rose 14.81 points in volatile trade to 6,701.73 pts helped by renewed buying in some of the heavyweights led by banks.

The KSX 15 benchmark jumped 14.62 pts to 980.84 pts taking the year’s gains to 95 pts while weighted index was up 5 points. The volume turnover meanwhile swelled past the 500 million mark. 558.93 million shares changed hands — a 14.39 pct rise from Sunday.

The sectors closed mostly in the green turf. Technology outshone the rest with 4 pct gain whereas oil and gas dived 3.61 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, real estate clocked the highest market share of 40.26 percent while financials services followed with 32.12 pct contribution.

Among the prime movers, National Bank of Kuwait rallied 20 fils on back of over 2 million shares while Commercial Bank jumped 25 fils extending an identical gain in the day before. Kuwait National Cinema recouped Sunday’s losses with a 40 fils rebound to KD 1.180.

Zain was up 10 fils at 510 fils on back of 7.9 million shares whereas Wataniya Telecom (Ooredoo) stood pat at KD 1.240 with razor thin trading. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) shed 20 fils whereas logistics major Agility was up 10 fils at 730 fils.

Kuwait Finance House was flat at 620 fils off early lows while Kuwiat International Bank took in 2 fils. KIB’s fourth quarter earnings increased to KD 4.72 m in last quarter of 2016 from KD 4.25 mln in same period last year.

The market opened firm and rose sharply in early trade amid bargain buying following Sunday’s plunge. The main index peaked at 6,751.34 points and pulled back thereafter as sentiment turned weak. It plumbed the day’s lowest level of 6,644.87 pts and headed north in choppy trade before closing with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, Inovest rallied 9 pct to 108 fils while First Takaful Insurance Co climbed 8.33 pct to stand next. KFIC slid 8.33 pct, the steepest decliner of the day, and Abyaar Real Estate Co topped the volume with over 64 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s gains, the market spread was skewed towards the winners. 67 stocks advanced whereas 47 closed lower. Of the 141 counters active on Monday, 27 closed flat. 10,912 deals worth KD 48 million were transacted — a 4 pct drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group rose 4 fils to 154 fils with a volume of 2.4 million and Gulf Cable gained 20 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co added 10 fils while Contracting and Marine Services Co clipped 2 fils. Shuaiba Industrial Co was down 15 fils at 310 fils.

Kuwait Food Co (Americana) climbed 20 fils to KD 2.620 and Kuwait Foundry Co was up 10 fils at 350 fils. ACICO added 5 fils while Hilal Cement Co and Automated Systems Co gained 10 fils each. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 20 fils to 590 fils.

Slipped

Jazeera Airways slipped 10 fils to 670 fils extending an identical drop on Sunday while ALAFCO stood pat at 250 fils. NAPESCO tumbled 50 fils to 820 fils and NICBM was unchanged at paused at 218 fils. Equipment Holding Co gave up 3 fils before settling at 63 fils.

Humansoft Holding was unchanged at KD 3.000 and OSOS rose 10 fils to 190 fils. Yiaco and AWJ Holding were up 5 fils each while KPPC inched 1 fil higher. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co rose 5 fils to 290 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co fell 5 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement paused at KD 1.080. KCPC gave up 4 fils and Al Rai Media Group dialed up 2 fils. The company’s Q4 profits dropped 26.4 pct to KD 1.17 m from same period in the previous year and in 2016, the profits dipped 34.9 pct to KD 4.11 mln.

Zimah Holding took in 2 fils while Mezzan Holding climbed 10 fils to 980 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co added 3 fils and KGL Logistics Co rose 4 fils on back of 4.2 million shares.

In the banking sector Gulf Bank rose 2 fils to 250 fils whereas Al Ahli Bank and Burgan Bank stood pat at 315 fils and 325 fils respectively. Ahli United Bank climbed 5 fils to 445 fils. Boubyan Bank stalled at 415 fils and Warba Bank closed 4 fils higher.

National Investment Co dialed up 2 fils on back of 7.7 million shares while KIPCO and Kuwait Investment Co were unchanged at 540 fils and 99 fils respectively. Coast Investment Co was up 2 fils on back of over 14 million shares.

KAMCO was flat at 85 fils after vacillating earlier in the session while Bayan Investment Co and Arzan eased 2 fils each. Noor Financial Investment Co inched 1 fil into red and Sokouk Holding followed suit. Tamdeen Investment Co climbed 10 fils to 310 fils.

National Real Estate Co and United Real Estate Co stagnated at 124 fils and 102 fils respectively whereas Mabanee Co gained 10 fils. Kuwait Real Estate Co added 2 fils and Mazaya Holding Co paused at 142 fils.

The market has been largely downbeat so far during the week and has skidded 146 points in last two sessions. It has tumbled 131 points from start of the month but has rallied 16.59 pct year-to-date. KSE, with 208 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Boubyan Bank’s fourth quarter profit rose 13.5 pct year-on-year to KD 11.44 million from KD 10.08 million in Q4 of 2015. For the full year, profit was up 16.6 pct to KD 41.07 mln from KD 35.24 million in 2015.

Al Mowasat Health Care has posted KD 1.8 million profits during the fourth quarter of 2016 and for the fiscal year of 2016, earnings rose 35.3 pct to KD 4.52 million from the year before. The board of directors has recommended a dividend payout of 20 percent or 20 fils per share.

Injazzat Real Estate Development has posted a net profit of KD 550,000 in the last quarter of 2016 and during the fiscal year of 2016, the bank earned KD 3.2 million. The board of Injazzat has recommended a cash dividend of 5 percent or 5 fils per share for FY 2016, with a total value of KD 2.03 million.

Jeeran Holding Co has logged a net profit of KD 431,750 and earnings per share of 3.17 fils in the first nine-month of 2016 up sharply from net profit of KD 177,518 and earnings per share of 1.30 fils in the 9M of 2015.

Kuwait Building Materials Mfg has registered a net profit of KD 159,204 and earnings per share of 5.3 fils in the January-September period as against net profit of KD 363,059 and earnings per share of 12 fils in the same period last year.

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

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