Kuwait market bounces into green; volume rises

Mabanee Co gains 10 fils; Ooredoo flat

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, May 10: Kuwait stocks headed north on Wednesday as it continued its volatile course during the week. The price index climbed 57 pts in choppy session to 6,655.97 points helped by an spurt in buying across the sectors.

The KSX 15 benchmark rose 5.74 pts to 901.5 pts while weighted index was up 2.18 pts at 399.21 points. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded following Tuesday’ modest rise. 182.17 million shares changed hands — a 34.8 pct surge from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in the green turf. Technology outperformed the rest with 2.84 pct gain whereas parallel market shed 1.11 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services accounted for the highest market share of 44.22 pct and real estate trailed with 33.4 percent contribution.

Among the prime movers, National Bank of Kuwait rallied 10 fils on back of 3.7 million shares and Mabanee Co followed suit extending last session’s gains. KIPCO was up 5 fils at 380 fils and National Investment Co added 7 fils after closing lower in day before.

Zain rose 5 fils with a volume of 2.8 million and Ooredoo stood pat at KD 1.240 off early lows. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) slid 40 fils to 840 fils and Agility gained 10 fils.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait climbed 5 fils to 390 fils and Burgan Bank closed flat. The bank has registered a 24.6 percent year-on-year increase in its profits to KD 17.81 for the first quarter of 2017.

The market opened firm and rose sharply in early trade amid spurt in buying across the sectors. The main index traded choppy thereafter and peaked at 6,663.2 points in final minutes before slightly paring back the gains at close.

Top gainer of the day, Amwal rallied 8 pct to 67 fils while KSHC climbed 7.69 percent to stand next. Kuwait National Cinema Co slid 7.5 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Remal topped the volume with 17.5 million shares.

Mirroring the

day’s

upswing, the winners outled the losers two to one. 73 stocks advanced whereas 26 closed lower. Of the 137 counters active on Wednesday, 38 closed flat. 4,607 deals worth KD 16.25 million were transacted — a 26.6 pct jump in a value from the day before.

National Industries Group was unchanged at 114 fils after vacillating earlier in the session and logged a volume of over 1 million while Gulf Cable climbed 15 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co and Contracting and Marine Services Co closed flat.

Kuwait Food Co (Americana) was flat at KD 2.440 off early highs and Kuwait Foundry Co rose 10 fils to 305 fils. Metal and Recycling Co took in 2 fils and ACICO Industries gave up 5 fils.

Budge

Jazeera Airways was unchanged at 500 fils and ALAFCO too did not budge from its earlier close. The company has posted a 83.3 percent surge in profits to KD 5.59 million for the quarter ending March 31, 2017 from year before period.

Equipment Holding eased 1 fil to 58 fils and Educational Holding Co was up 5 fils at 300 fils. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co dialed up 5 fils and Boubyan Petrochemical Co gained 10 fils. Independent Petroleum Group jumped 15 fils to 410 fils.

UPAC jumped 30 fils and Humansoft partly recouped last session’s slide with a 20 fils gain. Burgan Well Drilling Co paused at 86 fils and Combined Group Co held ground at 550 fils.

OSOS rose 8 fils to 138 fils whereas KCPC and Zimah dialed up 2 fils each before closing at 170 fils and 56 fils respectively. Automated Systems Co stood pat at 280 fils with thin trading and Al Rai Media Co took in 2 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co rose 2 fils to 59 fils and KGL Logistics Co inched 1 fil into red. Mezzan Holdimg was unchanged at 990 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Ahli United Bank were flat at 390 fils and 410 fils respectively while Al Ahli Bank was up 5 fils at 310 fils. Kuwait International Bank dialed up 2 fils before closing at 244 fils.

Kuwait Finance House was unchanged at 485 fils off slight early highs and Boubyan Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of 395 fils. Warba Bank took in 2 fils to wind up at 242 fils after trading over 1 million shares.

Kuwait Investment Co and Coast Investment Co took in 2 fils each while International Financial Advisors edged 1 fil into green on back of over 3 million shares. Arzan was flat at 36 fils and KFIC followed suit.

KAMCO was unchanged at 86 fils while Bayan Investment Co took in 1 fil. Securities House Co inched 0.5 fil up to 43 fils and Securities Group paused at 99 fils. Al Deera dialed up 2 fils to end at 32.5 fils.

Sokouk Holding rose 1 fil to 44.5 fils whereas Noor Financial Investment Co eased 1 fil. Tamdeen Investment fell 5 fils to 310 fils and Amwal climbed 5 fils. Al Imtiaz was up 4 fils at 158 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co gained 10 fils.

United Real Estate was flat at 88 fils and Kuwait Real Estate Co followed suit after trading 4.6 million shares. National Real Estate Co dialed up 1 fil and Mazaya Holding paused at 110 fils.

The market has been mixed so far during the week and has dipped 96 points in last four sessions. It had slumped 187 points from start of the month and is trading 15.79 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 208 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Acico Industries’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.

Injazzat Real Estate Development has recorded a 71.5 percent surge in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 2.35 million from KD 1.37 million in Q1 of 2016, The earnings were boosted by the sale of one of the company’s assets at a profit of KD 1.97 million. In 2016 the profit was up 2.9 percent at KD 3.2 mln.

National Petroleum Services (Napesco) first quarter profit surged 62.7 percent year-on-year to KD 2.31 million as to compared to KD 1.42 million in same period last year. It company had earned KD 7.71 million in 2016, up 35.6 percent from 2015.

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 percent uptick to KD 2.75 million in 2016 from the previous year.

Shuaiba Industrial has logged a Q1 profit of KD 632,050 up 0.4 percent from KD 629,560 in the same period a year ago. In 2016, it recorded a 9.43 percent year-on-year rise in profits to KD 1.9 million.