By John Mathews

Humansoft Holding tumbles 40 fils; Americana gains

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 11: Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Sunday as it kicked off the week on a tepid note. The bourse was down 14.57 pts in volatile trading to 6,639.98 points as investors toed the sidelines. Most of the heavyweights sagged even as the overall mood remained subdued

The KSX 15 gauge shed 5.38 points trimming the year’s gains to 23 pts while weighted index edged 1.43 pts lower to 408.87 points. The volume turnover meanwhile sank to five week low. 62.56 million shares changed hands — a 13.4 pct drop from Thursday.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Real estate outpaced the rest with over 1 pct gain whereas banks slipped 1.18 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services mustered the highest market share of 32.8 pct and banks followed with 30.2 percent contribution.

In the individual performers, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 6 fils to 745 fils after trading 1.2 million shares and Kuwait Finance House gave up 3 fils before settling at 591 fils. Humansoft Holding, the priciest share in the bourse, was down 40 fils at KD 3.525.

Zain slipped 7 fils to 456 fils after trading 1.8 million shares and Ooredoo jumped 70 fils to KD 1.130. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) fell 2 fils to 750 fils and Agility shed 12 fils to close at 850 fils.

Gulf Bank of Kuwait paused at 241 fils. The bank has recorded a 17.2 pct rise in profits to KD 10.14 million during the fourth quarter of 2017 from same period last year. During the FY 2017 fiscal, the bank’s earnings rose 11.8 pct to KD 48.02 million The board has recommended a cash dividend of 9% or 9 fils per share for FY2017.

The market opened on a tame note and drifted lower in early trade. The main index moved sideways and fell sharply past the mid-session amid bout of selling to bottom at 6,533 points. It seesawed again before closing with moderate losses.

Top gainer of the day, REAM spiked 10 pct to KD 1.100 and KAMCO jumped 9.5 percent to stand close behind. Ithmaar Bank slid 10.2 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Investment Co topped the volume with 10.8million shares.

Mirroring the day’s downswing, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the losers. 27 stocks advanced whereas 65 closed lower. Of the 112 counters active on Sunday, 20 closed flat. 2,848 deals worth KD 9.1 million were transacted — a 20.9 percent drop in value from the last session.

National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 160 fils and Gulf Cable ticked 1 fil into green. Kuwait Portland Cement shed 20 fils and Shuaiba Industrial was down 10 fils at 250 fils. Equipment Holding trimmed 0.1 fil.

Kuwait Foundry Co dropped 13 fils to 225 fils and Kuwait National Cinema Co dialed up 2 fils. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was unchanged at 341 fils whereas Boubyan Petrochemical Co gave up 7 fils to end at 708 fils.

Dip

ALAFCO rose 5 fils and Jazeera Airways shed 20 fils. The company has registered 23.7 pct dip in net profits to KD 8.2 million during 2017 as when to the previous fiscal year. The operating revenues grew 7.3 pct KD 56.6 m and operating profits was up 12.1% to KD 7.7 million.

Kuwait Food Co (Americana) climbed 5 fils to KD 1.050 and Educational Holding Co slid 17 fils to 314 fils. Independent Petroleum Group was down 6 fils at 390 fils and 390 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co stood pat at 459 fils.

NAPESCO fell 6 fils to 794 fils and OSOS took in 0.5 fil. UPAC gave up 5 fils and Mezzan Holding stood ground at 780 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co inched 1 fil into green and KGL Logistics trimmed 0.4 fil. EK Holding climbed 10 fils to 295 fils.

In the banking sector, Burgan Bank fell 2 fils to 308 fils and Kuwait International Bank dialed up 1 fil. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the session.

Al Mutahed fell 5 fils to 341 fils and Boubyan Bank was up 7 fils at 477 fils.Warba Bank trimmed 1 fil before closing at 225 fils.

KIPCO took in 1 fil while National Investment Co and International Financial Advisors stood pat at 99.9 fils. Commercial Facilities Co added 2 fils and Securities House Co eased 0.9 fil to 51.5 fils. Arzan inched 0.4 fil into red.

Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) took in 2 fils and Al Mal