Kuwait equities extend losses in sluggish trade

Jazeera Airways drops 15 fils, ABK gains

KUWAIT CITY, May 23: Kuwait stocks headed north on Wednesday, extending the losses to second straight session. The All Shares Index dipped 21.78 pts in a sluggish session to 4761.89 points dragged by blue chips and some of the mid-caps .

The Premier Market slid 34.38 points to 4718.48 pts while Main Market ticked 0.99 pts higher to 4839.39 points. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for the third day in a row. Over 42 million shares changed hands – a 14.7 pct rise from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Oil and gas outpaced the rest with 0.18 pct uptick while insurance shed 2.82 pct, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, financial services clocked the highest market share of 39.7 pct and banks followed with 29.3 percent contribution.

Among the losers, National Bank of Kuwait fell 4 fils to 733 fils after trading over 2 million shares and is down 12 fils from start of the month while KIPCO clipped 2 fils. Humansoft Holding dived 30 fils and Jazeera Airways was down 15 fils at 740 fils.

Zain was unchanged at 380 fils and Ooredoo was not traded during the session. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) was unchanged at 704 fils and Agility tripped 2 fils before closing at 748 fils.

Kuwait Finance House slipped 4 fils and Warba Bank gave up 2 fils. The bank’s profits soared 115 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018 while total revenues jumped 54 pct quarter-on-quarter to KD 18.77 mln..

The market opened firm and moved sideways in early trade, The main index drifted lower amid bout of selling in some of the counters and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 4754 pts in the final minutes. It however pared back some of the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, GNAHC soared 10.5 fils to 44 fils and Al Ahli Bank climbed 8.9 pct to stand next. Warba insurance Co skidded 10 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and GNAHC also topped the volume with 8.8 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s fall, the losers outnumbered the winners. 34 stocks advanced while 59 closed lower. Of the 106 counters active on Wednesday, 19 closed flat. 1866 deals worth KD 8.2 mln were transacted – a 20.5 percent surge in value from the day before.

National Industries Group dropped 4 fils 150 fils after trading 3.3 million shares and Gulf Cable was down 5 fils at 385 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co shed 7 fls extending Tuesday’s losses while Al Qurain Petrochemical added 3 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co and Mezzan Holding were unchanged at 248 fils and 714 fils respectively whereas Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co gained 8 fils. Kuwait Cement Co dipped 14 fils to 430 fils.

Slipped

NICBM and ACICO Industries slipped 5 fils each to close at 175 fils and 220 fils respectively while Equipment Holding Co dialed down 2.3 fils to close at 28.6 fils. KGL Logistics added 0.3 fil and Mashaer Holding ticked 1.5 fils into red.

NAPESCO climbed 10 fils to 770 fils and Automated Systems Co clipped 2 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co skidded 29 fils to KD 1.021 and Educational Holding Co took in 2 fils, ALAFCO ticked 1 fil into red.

Inovest inched 1.1 fils higher and Al Rai Media Group trimmed 1 fil. The company’s profits dipped by 42 pct year-on-year to KD 262,940 during the first quarter of 2018. Operational revenues dropped by 19 pct year-on-year to KD 2.67 million.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Kuwait International Bank tripped 1 fil each to close at 256 fils and 219 fils respectively while Boubyan Bank gave up 3 fils to settle at 480 fils.

Commercial Bank clipped 2 fils and Al Ahli Bank bucked the trend to gain 28 fils. Al Mutahed was down 8 fils and 270 fils and Ahli United Bank edged 2 fils into red.

Kuwait Investment Co and Alola eased 1 fil each whereas International Financial Advisors ticked 0.2 fil lower. Coast Investment Co dialed up 0.4 fil and Al Aman added 2.1 fils before closing at 52.9 fils. GFH fell 4 fils to 103 fils and GIH ticked 0.2 fil into green.

Bayan Investment inched 0.1fil while Al Salaam and Sokouk Holding trimmed 0.4 fil each while KFIC stood pat at 44.5 fils. Al Deera Holding dialed up 1.4 fils and Osoul gave up 4 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co rose 0.9 fil to 49 fils and Ayaan took in 0.3 fil. Amwal ticked 0.4 fil down and Al Imtiaz inched 1 fil into green. Gulf Insurance Co tumbled 40 fils and Warba Insurance Co was sliped 8.2 fils to 73.8 fils.

National Real Estate Co slipped 4 fils to 102 fils while Salhiya Real Estate gave up 2 fils to end at 333 fils. United Real Estate tripped 1.2 fils and Kuwait Real Estate ticked 0.2 fil into red. Mabanee Co gave up 4 fils.

The market has been mixed so far during the week dipping 40 pts in last four sessions and slid 38 pts from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.

In the bourse related news, Jazeera Airways net loss narrowed to KD 300,000 during the threemonth period ended 31 March 2018 as against a loss of KD 947,705 for the same period in 2016. The operating revenues soared 42.7 percent year-on-year to KD 14.3 million.

KIPCO logged a 11 pct rise in profits to KD 5.64 million during the first quarter of 2018 compared to KD 5.07 mln in first quarter of previous year. Operating revenues was up 13 percent to KD 170.95 mln whereas consolidated assets shrank to KD 9.8 billion.

Al Mazaya Holding has incurred a 29.3 pct drop in profits to KD 1.35 million during the first quarter of 2018 as against KD 1.91 million in the same period the year before. The drop in earnings is attributed to lesser delivery of real estate units in the first quarter of 2018 when compared to Q1 of previous year.

Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) has registered a 26.7 pct jump in profits to KD 2.18 million during the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period of 2017. Earnings per share stood at 12.03 fils as against 11.58 fils in first quarter of last year.

Educational Holding Group has incurred a loss of KD 2.66 million during the first six months that ended on 28 February 2018 as compared to profits of KD 3.18 million in the corresponding period last year. The operating profits stood at KD 3.77 million , a 17% higher increase from the same period in 2017.

Shuaiba Industrial’s first quarter earnings dipped 36.3 percent to KD 402,950 during the first quarter of 2018 as against first quarter of 2017. The decline in profits is attributed to higher sales costs.