Kuwait stocks flattish in ‘lacklustre’ trading

Burgan Bank slips 7 fils, VIVA gains

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 9: Kuwait stocks closed flat on Tuesday extending last session’s trend. The All Shares Index ticked 0.24 pts up in lackluster trade to 5,103.45 points even as the market continued to meander listlessly following the inclusion of the bourse in FTSE Russell index last month.

The Prime Market fell 4.52 points to 5,304.4 pts taking the month’s losses to 39 points while Main Market climbed 9 pts to 4,738.3 points. The volume turnover saw a modest bounce. Over 56 million shares changed hands – a 19 pct jump from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Basic materials outpaced the rest with 2.51 pct gain whereas technology tumbled 5.6 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volumewise, financial services notched the highest market share of 29 pct and real estate trailed with 20 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait rose 3 fils to 832 fils extending an identical gain in the previous session whereas Burgan Bank shed 7 fils after trading 3.6 million shares. Humansoft Holding skidded 41 fils to KD 3.199.

Zain was unchanged at 469 fils while Ooredoo dialed up 2 fils to close at 770 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) climbed 11 fils to 730 fils and Agility trimmed 1 fil to wind up at 835 fils .

The market opened flat and moved sideways in early trade. The main index drifted south thereafter as sentiment weakened and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,088 pts past the mid-session. It revved up in the final hour and managed to close in the green zone.

Top gainer of the day, Al Aman jumped 6.8 pct to 51.8 fils and Tijara climbed 6.12 pts to stand next. REAM shed 7.4 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Mal Investment topped the volume with 7.6 million shares

Despite the tame closing, the market spread was slightly skewed towards the losers. 44 stocks advanced whereas 49 closed lower. Of the 122 counters active on Tuesday, 29 closed flat. 3,340 deals worth KD 11.23 million were transacted – a 9 pct rise in value from the day before.

National Industries Group ticked 1 fil lower to 158 fils and Mezzan Holding followed suit to end at 662 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co extended Monday’s gains with 14 fils jump to KD 1.034 and Al Qurain Petrochemical scaled 20 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co was flat at 370 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement climbed 19 fils to KD 1.060. Heavy Engineering Industries Co slipped 5 fils to 473 fils and Al Kout Industries was down 24 fils at 766 fils.

Jazeera Airways and ALAFCO paused at 748 fils and 325 fils respectively. Jazeer’s second quarter earnings dropped 23.6 pct to KD 1.8 million whereas operating rev- enues jumped 43.3 pct to KD 20.1 million. In the first half net profits rose 6.4 pct to KD 1.4 mln.

Gulf Cable took in 1 fil while Combined Group Co and UPAC stood pat at 359 fils and 630 fils respectively. Automated Systems Co dropped 7 fils and KCPC was down 5 fils at 233 fils reversing last session’s gains.

Burgan Well Drilling Co fell 2 fils to 105 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts was unchanged at 96.9 fils. ACICO Industries clipped 1 fil and Equipment Holding Co tripped 0.1 fil. Mashaer Holding ticked 0.4 fil lower to 44 fils.

Kuwait Gulf Links Transport Co dialed up 1.3 fil and KGL Logistics inched 0.1 fil into green. EK Holding added 1 fil and Inovest gave up 3.9 fils before settling at 81 fils.

In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House and Gulf Bank were unchanged at 591 fils and 253 fils respectively whereas Kuwait International Bank eased 1 fil to 233 fils with a volume of over 1 million. Boubyan Bank slipped 4 fils to 552 fils.

Commercial Bank was flat at 510 fils and Al Ahli Bank ticked 1 fil into red. Al Mutahed added 2 fils whereas Warba Bank and Ahli United Bank clipped 1 fil each to close at 231 fils and 207 fils respectively.

KIPCO was unchanged at 211 fils and Gulf Finance House tripped 0.1 fil.

Unicap ‘s profits spiked 497 pct during the second quarter to KD 2.8 mln while during the first six months the earnings soared 192.3 pct to KD 3.04 million. Kuwait Investment tripped 1 fil and International Financial Advisors inched 0.1 fil higher.

KAMCO and Osoul Investment paused at 71 fils and 53.3 fils respectively whereas Coast Investment Co tripped 0.1 fil. KMEFIC took in 0.3 fil and Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) dialed down 2 fils. Securities House Co eased 0.2 fil to 48.7 fils.

Bayan Investment Co fell 1.1 fil to 47.9 fils and NIH gave up 2.5 fils before settling at 64.5 fils. Al Deera Holding inched 0.1 fil up and Ektittab Holding edged 0.2 fil into green. Noor Financial Investment Co took in 0.4 fil and Al Imtiaz clipped 2 fils.

Mabanee Co fell 3 fils to 625 fils while Salhiya Real Estate and Mazaya Holding added 1 fil each. National Real Estate Co sagged 1.2 fils and United Real Estate Co ticked 0.9 fil higher.

The market had been sluggish so far during the week, slipping 8 points in last two sessions and is down 25 points from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.