Kuwait equities retreat as profit taking weighs

Mabanee Co dips 10 fils, Kuwait Portland soars

By John Mathews Arab Times Staff KUWAIT CITY, Dec 10: Kuwait stocks pulled lower on Monday, stemming the six-day winning streak. The All Shares Index dropped 21.36 pts in choppy session to 5,401.75 points as profit taking weighed on most of the heavyweights even as some of the mid caps shone.

The Premier Market dived 40.33 pts to 5,401.75 points trimming the month’s gains to 84 pts and Main Market climbed 13.6 pts to 4,729.41 points. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank for fourth straight session. Over 102 million shares changed hands.

The sectors closed mostly in the red zone. Technology outpaced the rest with 1.89 pct gain and consumer goods dipped 1.96 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, real estate notched the highest market share of 32.85 pct and financial services trailed with 27.4 percent contribution.

Among the notable losers, sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait slipped 4 fils to 839 fils after trading over 2 million shares and Gulf Bank gave up 5 fils to wind up at 272 fils. Mabanee Co dipped 10 fils to 629 fils erasing Sunday’s gains and Kuwait Portland Cement bucked the trend with 54 fils spike.

Zain fell 5 fils to 470 fils after trading over 5 million shares and Ooredoo was up 5 fils at 720 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) climbed 7 fils to 779 fils and Agility gave up 5 fils to close at 815 fils with a volume of over 1 million.

The market opened firm and edged lower in early trade. The main index flipped to head north and scaled the day’s highest level of 5,184 pts almost half way into the session. It retreated in the second half amid profit taking and closed with small losses.

Top gainer of the day, Yiaco climbed 9.2 pct to 118 fils and Energy Holding scaled 6,8 percent to stand next. Tahssilat skidded 9.8 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, and Al Tijaria topped the volume with over 10 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s downswing, the losers outnumbered the winners. 46 stocks advanced whereas 57 closed lower. Of the 127 counters active on Monday, 24 closed flat. 4,724 deals worth KD 17.4 million were transacted – down 15.24 pct in value from the day before National Industries Group was unchanged at 164 fils with a volume of 1.4 million and Mezzan Holding gave up 6 fils to close at 567 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co shed 15 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gave up 3 fils to end at 355 fils.

Jazeera Airways rebounded 24 fils to 735 fils recouping most of the losses in the previous session while ALAFCO gave up 3 fils to close at 359 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co clipped 2 fils and Equipment Holding tripped 0.2 fil.

Kuwait Foundry Co rose 5 fils to 180 fils and Kuwait Cement Co climbed 14 fils. Gulf Cable took in 1 fil while ACICO Industries and OSOS stood pat at 170 fils and 110 fils respectively. BIIHC dialed down 2.1 fils.

Humansoft Holding jumped 34 fils to KD 3.394 while Automated Systems Co took in 2 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co fell 1.4 fils to 95 fils and KGL Logistics paused at 40.6 fils. KPPC added 1.5 fils whereas KCPC

was unchanged at 230 fils.

Combined Group Contracting Co fell 1 fil to 319 fils and Burgan Well Drilling held ground at 102 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts slipped 3 fils to 85 fils and Inovest clipped 2 fils. Al Rai Media Group trimmed 0.4 fil and Ithmaar Holding was flat at 27.8 fils.

In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House tripped 1 fil each to close at 616 fils after trading 4.7 million shares and Burgan Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of 293 fils. Boubyan Bank dipped 9 fils to 577 fils.

Warba Bank shed 8 fils after trading 4.3 million shares while Ahli United Bank and Commercial Bank clipped 1 fil each to end at 206 fils and 496 fils respectively. Al Ahli Bank slipped 3 fils to 297 fils and Kuwait International Bank dropped 6 fils.

KIPCO fell 2 fils to 208 fils and Gulf Finance House trimmed 0.8 fil. Kuwait Investment Co was flat at 137 fils and FACIL clipped 2 fils. International Financial Advisors eased 0.8 fil after trading over 2 million shares and Coast Investment Co added 2.2 fils.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) and KMEFIC were flat at 103 fils and 31.5 fils respectively whereas Securities House clipped 0.7 fil. Al Mal Investment ticked 0.1 fil down to 22.2 fils and Osoul Investment tripped 0.5 fil. Madar Financial Co paused at 154 fils.

Bayan Investment Co fell 2.8 fils to 45.2 fils and National Investment Co added 1.1 fils. Unicap edged 0.3 fil up and Al Madina took in 0.5 fil. Noor Financial Investment eased 0.1 fil to 62.4 fils and Al Imtiaz Investment dialed up 1 fil. Warba Insurance Co fell 4 fils to 61 fils.

Kuwiat Real Estate Co fell 1.9 fils to 53.5 fils whereas Salhiya Real Estate and United Real Estate Co were unchanged at 328 fils and 60 fils respectively. National Real Estate trimmed 0.6 fil and Mazaya Holding added 1.4 fils.

The bourse has been mixed so far during the week slipping 16 points in last two sessions and has rallied 56 points so far during the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.