Kuwait bourse swings higher in volatile trade

Humansoft Holding soars 59 fils; Ooredoo dips

KUWAIT CITY, March 14: Kuwait stocks headed north on Wednesday after treading water in the previous session. The main index climbed 20.03 pts in volatile session to 6,748.32 points helped by renewed buying in some of the midcaps and blue chips. The overall mood however remained fickle.

The KSX 15 rose 3.18 points to 9,546.37 pts while weighted index ticked 1.08 pts up to 410.84 points. The volume turnover meanwhile bounced from Tuesday’s multimonth low. 59.56 million shares changed hands — a 42.7 pct surge from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green. Basic materials outshone the rest with 1.44 pct gain whereas parallel market shed 2.5 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, real estate garnered the highest market share.

Among the prime movers, Humansoft Holding extended last session’s gains with 59 fils surge to KD 3.999 and Combined Group recouped Tuesday’s drop with 23 fils rise to 448 fils. Jazeera Airways gained 13 fils to settle at 618 fils.

Zain climbed 6 fils to 460 fils on back of 2.6 million shares and Ooredoo dropped 18 fils to KD 1.001 taking the month’s losses to 48 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) took in 1 fil and logistics major Agility was up 4 fils at 849 fils

Natioanl Bank of Kuwait fell 1 fil to 773 fils after trading 1.8 million shares and Al Mutahed climbed 6 fils to 350 fils. The bank’s profits surged 262 pct to KD 4.42 million during the fourth quarter of 2017 from same period in 2016. In FY 2017, the earnings were up 10.2 percent to KD 44.46 million.

The market opened on flat and drifted lower in early trade. The main index slipped to day’s lowest level of 6,713 points and pulled higher as buying picked up in select counters. It peaked at 6,752 points almost half way into the session and slumped again before revving up in the final minutes to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, Taameer jumped 12.25 pct to 28.4 fils and NIH climbed 10.52 percent to stand next. Al Eid sank 40 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Real Estate Co topped the volume with over 11 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s upswing, the winners outnumbered the losers. 51 stocks advanced whereas 43 closed lower. Of the 112 counters active on Wednesday, 18 closed flat. 2,307 deals worth KD 10.8 million were transacted — a 17.5 percent surge in value from the day before.

National Industries Group and Gulf Cable took in 2 fils each to close at 149 fils and 411 fils respectively whereas Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co eased 1 fil to 210 fils. Equipment Holding Co inched 0.1 fil higher to 36 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co climbed 12 fils to 239 fils and ACICO vaulted 13 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Industries Co added 3 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was up 5 fils at 350 fils. Kuwait Cable Vision Co gave up 3.1 fils to end at 15 fils.

Dipped

IFA Hotels and Resorts dipped 19 fils to 116 fils whereas OSOS and Energy Holding Co stood pat at 99 fils and 27 fils respectively. NICBM rose 5 fils to 170 fils and Masher Holding clipped 2.9 fils.

ALAFCO was flat at 367 fils and Automated Systems Co slipped 5 fils. The company has registered of 28.8% drop in profits during the fourth quarter of 2017 to KD 237.000 from KD 333,000 in the year before period During 2017, earnings fell 4.2% to KD 1.6 m.

UPAC climbed 10 fils to 700 fils and KPPC fell 2.9 fils to 53.8 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co paused at 99 fils and KGL Logistics took in 0.2 fil. E K Holding dipped 8 fils and Al Rai Media Group added 3 fils.

In the banking sector, Commercial Bank inched 1 fil up whereas Gulf Bank and Kuwait International were unchanged at 260 fils and 234 fils respectively.

Al Ahli Bank climbed 5 fils to 350 fils and Kuwait Finance House paused at 582 fils after trading 1.6 million shares. Boubyan Bank gained 8 fils and Warba Bank clipped 2 fils.

National Investment Co dialed up 1 fil while KIPCO and Kuwait Investment Co gave up 2 fils each. International Financial Advisors edged 0.7 fil higher and Securities House Co eased 1 fil to 50.5 fils.

Osoul Investment Co dropped 6.4 fils to 48 fils and NIH was up 5.9 fils at 62 fils. Coast Investment Co dialed up 0.5 fil and Noor Financial Investment Co inched 0.2 fil higher.

Amwal Investment rose 3 fils to 54 fils and KMEFIC dialed up 1.5 fils. Al Madina took in 0.7 fil and Al Imtiaz ticked 1 fil higher to 139 fils. Al Mal Investment Co and GIH eased 0.1 fil each.

National Real Estate Co clipped 2 fils while Mabanee Co and Mazaya Holding trimmed 1 fil each to close at 710 fils and 110 fils respectively. United Real Estate gained 4 fils and Salhiya Real Estate inched 1 fil into green.

The bourse has been largely downbeat so far during the week and has skidded 26 pts in last three sessions. It had dropped 25 points so far during the month and is trading 5.3 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Mabanee has logged 1.6 pct drop in in profits to KD 12.45 million during the fourth quarter of 2017 from same period a year ago. In 2017 fiscal year, the earnings ticked up by 1 pct to KD 49.15 million. The board members has recommended a cash dividend of 10% for FY17, in addition to 5% bonus shares or 5-for-100 shares.

Kuwait Projects Holding’s (KIPCO) profits during 2017 dipped 48.1 pct in profits to KD 23.6 million from KD 45.5 million in the previous year. Revenues fell by 0.8% to KD 656 million in the fiscal year The board has recommended a cash dividend of 10% or 10 fils per share for the year in.

Kuwait Telecommunication Co (Viva) logged a 9.8 pct rise in profits to KD 11.8 mln during the fourth quarter of 2017 as against Q4 of 2016. During 2017, earnings was up marginally by 1 percent to KD 40.09 mln compared to KWD 39.81 million in FY16. The board has recommended a cash dividend of 30 percent for FY2017 or 30 fils per share.

Aqar Real Estate Investments’ fourth quarter profits dropped by 14.7 pct from the same period last year to KD 732,000. During fiscal year 2017, earnings saw a marginal year-on-year rise of 1.1 percent to KD 1.76 million . The board of directors has recommended cash dividend of 6 pct or 6 fils per share for FY17.