Kuwaiti equities head south; volume shrinks – UPAC dives 85 fils; NBK gains

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 20: Kuwait stocks headed south on Wednesday, snapping the six-day gaining spree. The bourse clawed back from a mid-session dive to close 36.16 points down at 6,384.48 points as investors toed caution heading into year end.

The banks and other heavyweights were mostly muted. The KSX 15 benchmark rose 2.33 pts to 908.9 points while weighted index ticked 0.22 points higher to 399.35 points.

The volume turnover meanwhile sank to a multi-month low. 42.63 million shares changed hands — a 48 pct drop from the day before. The sectoral closings diverged. Parallel market outpaced the rest with 1.30 pct gain whereas real estate shed 1.89 percent, the worst performer of the day.

Volume wise, financial services accounted for the highest market share of 28.3 percent and banks followed close behind with 26.9 pct contribution. In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait rallied 4 fils to 725 fils on back of 3.2 million shares whereas KIPCO stood pat at 293 fils. Ream plunged 72 fils and UPAC slumped 85 fils to 585 fils.

Kuwait Insurance Co was down 15 fils at 260 fils. Zain was unchanged at 420 fils after trading over 4 million shares and Ooredoo was down 5 fils at KD 1.040. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) shed 8 fils and Agility climbed 6 fils to 805 fils. Kuwait Finance House was flat at 582 fils and Ahli United Bank- Kuwait clipped 1 fl.

The bank has registered 0.45 pct rise in profits during the third quarter of 2017 from Q2, 2016 to KD 13.55 million. During the first nine months of 2017, the bank posted a profit of KD 40.04 million. The market opened on a tame note and moved flattish in early trade. The main index continued to drift sideways and swung sharply into red half way into the session. It bottomed at 6,328 points and rebounded quickly before closing with moderate losses.

Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Cable Vision rallied 19.7 pct to 21.2 fils and Afaq climbed 189.48 percent to stand close behind. Ream plunged 20 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ajwan topped the volume with 5.4 million shares. Reflecting the day’s drop, the losers outnumbered the winners. 39 stocks advanced whereas 48 closed lower.

Of the 107 counters active on Wednesday, 20 closed flat. 2,187 deals worth KD 9.67 million were transacted — down 5.5 pct in value from the day before. National Industries Group rose 6 fils to 151 fils on back of 3.5 million shares while Gulf Cable gained 10 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co dipped 11 fils while Metal and Recycling Co trimmed 0.9 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co added 4 fils and Equipment Holding Co eased 0.4 fil to 33.5 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co rose 3 fils to 637 fils and NICBM dialed down 2 fils. ACICO Industries inched 1 fil into green while KPPC and KCPC paused at 52 fils and 145 fils respectively. Humansoft Holding and OSOS took in 1 fil each whereas GFH closed 1 fil lower.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co and KGL Logistics Co were flat at 66 fils and 47.7 fils respectively Educational Holding Co was unchanged at 300 fils. whereas Independent Petroleum Group added 3 fils. The company has clocked a 1 pct rise in third quarter profits to KD 1.445 million from the same period last year. In the Jan-Sept period the earnings jumped 28.2 percent to KD 5.058m.

Kuwait Finance House and Gulf Bank were unchanged at 582 fils and 240 fils respectively whereas Commercial Bank of Kuwait was not traded during the session. Burgan Bank and Warba Bank clipped 2 fils each whereas Kuwait International Bank dialed up 1 fil. Boubyan Bank was up 2 fils at 424 fils Kuwait Investment Co and National Investment Co were unchanged at 114 fils and 100 fils respectively.

Commercial Facilities Co gave up 2 fils while International Financial Advisors trimmed 0.3 fil. Unicap took in 2 fil whereas Securities House and Al Deera Holding fell 0.5 fil each to close at 54.5 fils and 0.5 fil respectively. Al Mal Investment slipped 1.8 fils to 25.2 fils and Coast Investment Co ticked 0.1 fil into red. Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) inched 1 fil up to 105 fils and Bayan Investment Co edged 0.4 fil down. Sokouk Holding took in 0.2 fil and Al Imtiaz stood pat at 159 fils. Noor Financial Investment Co added 0.4 filsand Al Madina closed 0.6 fil in green.

Warba Insurance Co was down 4.2 fils at 60.3 fils. KFIC dialed up 0.5 fil. Kuwait Real Estate Co fell 0.5 fil and Mabanee Co closed flat. The company’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. National Real Estate Co and Mazaya Holding dialed down 1 fil each while Injazaat clipped 2 fils.

United Real Estate Co dropped 3.9 fils to 68.6 fils. The bourse has been largely upbeat so far during the week and has climbed 54 points in last four sessions. It has rallied 200 points from start of the month and is trading 11 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Warba Insurance Company posted a loss of KD 3.1 million during the second quarter ended on June 30, 2017 as compared to profits of KD 2.2 million in the 2nd quarter of 2016.

The loss per share stood at 19.12 fils in Q2 of 2017 and current assets shrank by 10.1% to KD 43.54 million by the end of the second quarter. Gulf Bank of Kuwait’s total shareholders’ equity stood at KD 591.2 million by the end of September 2017. The net revenue from interest totaled KD 97.2 mln in January-September period while operating profits stood at KD 89.7 million.

Public provisions amounted to KD 225 million, accounting for 38 pct of the total shareholders’ equity. 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. 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.

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff

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