Kuwait ends week on dour note; volume up

Al Ahli Bank dips 26 fils; Zain ticks up

KUWAIT CITY, May 24: Kuwait stocks slipped deeper into red on Thursday to wind up the week on a dull note. The All Shares Index shed 30.54 pts in volatile session to close at 4,731.35 pts led by heavyweights and mid-caps

The Premier Market slid 30.74 pts to 4,687.71 points taking the month’s losses to 25 pts while main market was down 30.19 points. The volume turnover meanwhile swelled for fourth straight session. Over 63 million shares changed hands — up 50 pct from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Consumer goods outshone the rest with 0.55 pct gain whereas oil and gas shed 1.73 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, banks accounted for the highest market share of 39.2 pct and financial services trailed with 26.8 percent contribution.

Among prominent losers, Kuwait Finance House dropped 11 fils to 501 fils and Al Ahli Bank slid 26 fils erasing most of the gains in the previous session. Humansoft Holding dropped 15 fils to KD 3.485 and NAPESCO skidded 33 fils to 737 fils.

Zain took in 1 fil to close 381 fils and Ooredoo gave up 7 fils before closing at 869 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) climbed 6 fils to 709 fils and Agility slipped 4 fils to end at 744 fils taking the month’s losses to 125 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait fell 5 fils to 728 fils and Gulf Bank of Kuwait inched 1 fil higher. The bank has logged a 15.5% year-on-year increase in its profits to KD 10.81 in the first quarter of 2018.

The market opened firm and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 4,750 points and headed south thereafter as selling kicked in. It continued to drop and bottomed at 4728 pts in the final minutes before slightly paring back the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Ithmaar jumped 9.48 pct to 33.5 fils and National Real Estate Co rallied 7.8 fils to stand next. Al Ahli Bank slumped 7.6 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ithmaar topped the volume with over 10 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s d rop the losers outnumbered the winners. 35 stocsk advanced whereas 58 closed lower. Of the 106 b counters active on Thursday, 13 closed flat. 2,765 deals worth over KD 12 million were transacted — a 47 pct surge in value from the day before

National Industries Group ticked 1 fil lower to 149 fils and Gulf Cable slid 15 fils to 370 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dropped 11 fils to 837 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was down 3 fils at 332 fils.

Jazeera Airways fell 7 fils to 733 fil extending Wednesday’s losses and ALAFCO clipped 2 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co bucked the trend to gain 29 fils and Kuwait Cement Co was down 11 fils at 419 fils.

Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co ticked 1 fil into red and KPPC dialed up 0.8 fil to end at 59.8 fils. Mezza Holding slipped 5 fils into 700 fils.

Trimmed

Educational Holding ticked 1 fil lower to 309 fils and Equipment Holding Co trimmed 0.2 fil. Kuwait Gulf Link Transport Co was flat at 107 fils and KGL Logistics eased 0.2 fil into red

Al Rai Media Group tripped 1 fil and Osos Holding Group Co gave up 3 fils.The company’s first quarter profits jumped 63 percent to KD 566,840 from KD 346,800 in same period of 2017.

In the banking sector, Commercial Bank and Kuwait International Bank were unchanged at 486 fils and 219 fils respectively whereas Al Mutahed inched 1 fil into red.

Burgan Bank fell 2 fils to 252 fils and Boubyan Bank ticked 1 fil higher to 481 fils. Warba Bank took in 1 fil and Ahli United Bank dialed down 2 fils to end at 170 fils.

KIPCO and Kuwait Investment Co eased 1 fil each to close at 244 fils and 112 fils respectively whereas International Financial Advisors inched 0.2 fil higher to 26 fils. Coast Investment Co ticked 0.1 fil into green and Securities House trimmed 0.9 fil.

Osoul Investment was flat at 60 fils whereas Bayan Investment Co and Ektittab Holding trimmed 0.1 fil each. Al Mal Investment edged 0.3 fil into red and Al Madina ticked 0.2 fil lower to 27 fils. Amwal climbed 3.4 fils to 54.5 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co di- aled up 0.4 fil and Al Imtiaz gave up 3 fils to close at 128 fils. Warba Insurance Co took in 1 fil and Wethaq Takaful stood pat at 26.7 fils.

Mabanee Co rose 4 fils to 639 fils and Salhiya Real Estate Co ticked 1 fil into red. Al Tijaria paused at 29.5 fils and Mazaya Holding gave up 2.4 fils. Abyaar Real Estate edged 0.5 fil higher to 18.5 fils.

The market trended lower during the week. The main index closed lower in four of the five sessions shedding 70 points week-on-week and is down 68 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 three-month 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.