Kuwait bourse extends losses in volatile trade

Humansoft Holding skids 150 fils; NBK ticks up

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, May 24: Kuwait stocks swung lower on Wednesday, extending the losses to second session. The price index dipped 42.02 pts in volatile trade to 6,702.65 points amid continued profit taking. The banks however were largely muted.

The KSX 15 benchmark fell 2.69 pts to 916.28 points while weighted index gave up 1.73 pts to settle at 402.52 points. The volume turnover meanwhile rebounded again but remained anemic. 63.17 million shares changed hands — a 37.2 pct jump from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in the red. Insurance outperformed the rest with 4.16 pct gain whereas basic materials slid 3.29 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services cornered the highest market share of 45.7 pct while real estate trailed with over 29 pct contributions.

Among notable losers, KIPCO dropped 10 fils to 364 fils while Mabanee Co erased Tuesday’s gains with a 23 fils dip to 787 fils. Kuwait Foundry Co dived 41 fils and Humansoft Holding Co, the highest priced share in the bourse, tumbled 150 fils to KD 4.000.

Zain inched 1 fil down to 431 fils and Ooredoo stood pat at KD 1.220 with thin trading. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) shed 8 fils before settling at 840 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait took in 2 fils whereas Warba Bank clipped 2 fils. to close at 248 fils. The bank has posted a 296.3 percent jump in its profits to KD 1.3 million for the first quarter of 2017 as compared to the same period last year.

The market opened slightly weak and slipped briefly in early trade. The main index drifted sideways past the mid-session as sentiment remained brittle and headed north to scale the day’s highest level of 6,680.75 pts. It fell sharply thereafter to bottom at 6,680.75 pts in the final minutes before paring back some of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Wethaq Takaful soared 20 pct to 54 fils while Massaleh climbed 17.9 pct to stand next. Gulf Finance Co slumped 19.89 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with 11.9 million shares.

Reflecting

the

day’s

downswing, the losers outnumbered the winners two to one. 30 stocks advanced whereas 62 closed lower. Of the 109 counters active on Wednesday, 17 closed flat. 2,377 deals worth KD 7.93 mln were transacted — a 24.6 pct rise in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was flat at 119 fils and Gulf Cable too did not budge from its earlier close of 430 fils. Contracting and Marine Services Co eased 1 fil to 65 fils and Metal and Recycling Co slid 17 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co fell 5 fils to 445 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement Co gained 10 fils. Shuaiba Industrial Co took in 2 fils and Educational Holding Group rose 6 fils to 302 fils.

Climbed

Jazeera Airways climbed 12 fils to 472 fils partly recouping Tuesday’s drop while ALAFCO extended last session’s gains with 8 fils increase to 295 fils.

Independent Petroleum Group slid 35 fils and Acico Industries dipped 15 fils to 265 fils. NICBM slipped 6 fils to 202 fils and Equipment Holding Co dialed down 0.6 fil.

Automated Systems Co took in 2 fils and Al Rai Media Group eased 1 fil to130 fils. The company has posted 66.7 percent drop in profits in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 449,760.

Eyas bounced 15 fils to 460 fils while Combined Group Contracting Co ticked 1 fil into green. Soor Fuel Co and OSOS were unchanged at 117 fils and 131 fils respectively whereas Future Kid jumped 16 fils to 116 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co fell 3 fils to 65 fils and KGL Logistics gave up 1.2 fils to wind up at 50 fils. Mezzan Holding rose 5 fils to 995 fils and Zimah Holding inched 0.1 pt into red. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co closed 5 fils down at 335 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank inched 1 fil higher to 244 fils and Ahli United Bank paused at 425 fils. Commercial Bank of Kuwait and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the session.

Kuwait Finance House fell 4 fils to 482 fils after trading over 1 million shares and Kuwait International Bank was unchanged at 246 fils. Boubyan Bank dialed up 2 fils to close at 407 fils.

Kuwait Investment Co was unchanged at 93 fils off early lows and International Financial Advisors gave up 2.6 fils to end at 38.5 fils. Coast Investment Co and Al Deera Holding fell 1.4 fils each while Tamdeen Investment Co paused at 310 fils.

Bayan Investment Co dropped 4 fils to 33.5 fils and Al Salam closed 2.4 fils in red. Securities House Co and Sokouk Holding clipped 1 fil each while Noor Financial Investment Co edged 1.5 fils into green.

Amwal eased 0.4 fil to 73.5 fils and Ektittab Holding was down 1.5 fils. Kuwait Insurance Co climbed 15 fils to 262 fils and Al Madina gave up 1.2 fils.

Kuwait Real Estate Co dialed down 1.1 fils and Aayan Real Estate Co took in 1 fil. Mazaya Holding dipped 3 fils and Abyaar closed 1.5 fils in red after trading over 4 million shares.

The market has been mixed so far during the week and has shed 22 points in last four sessions. It has skidded 140 points from start of the month and is trading 16.61 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 208 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Ooredoo Kuwait has posted 26.6 pct jump in profits during the first quarter of 2017 to KD 12.93 million from KD 10.21 million in same period last year. It had recorded a growth of 75 percent in profits to KD 46.67 million during 2016.

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 KWD 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.

Kuwait National Cinema Co has registered a 26.17 pct jump in profits to KD 3.23 million during the first quarter of 2017 from same period in 2016. The net operating profit surged 61.3 percent to KD 1.3 million.