Kuwait index winds up week with small gains

KFH climbs 3 fils; Ooredoo dips

By John Mathews

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 23: Kuwait stocks logged a modest rebound on Thursday to wind up the week on a firm note. The bourse rose 10.16 pts in choppy trade to 6239.37 points paced by select counters across the sectors. The overall sentiment however remained fickle in absence of strong cues.

The KSX 15 benchmark climbed 2.8 pts to 906.27 points trimming the month’s losses to 60 points while weighed index added 1.1 points. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a modest bounce after sinking to a multi-month low in the day before. 53.4 million shares changed hands – a 16.5 pct rise from Wednesday,

The sectors closed mixed. Financial services outshone the rest with 0.7 pct gain whereas oil and gas shed 1.56 percent, the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, financial service mustered the highest market share of 54 percent market share while real estate trailed far behind with 15.9 percent contribution.

Among the notable performers, Kuwait Finance House rose 3 fils on back of 2.4 million shares while Mabanee Co gained 4 fils recouping most of Wednesday’s losses. Kuwait Portland Cement soared 50 fils to 960 fils.

Zain rose 2 fils to 443 fils on back of 1.9 million shares while Ooredoo dipped 29 fils to KD 1.076. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ticked 1 fils up following strong gains on Wednesday while Agility was up 3 fils at 744 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait was flat at 719 fils and Boubyan Bank climbed 5 fils. Bank’s profits rose 13.8 pct to KD 12.2 million in the July-September period, as compared to the year-ago period.

The market opened on tame note and slipped briefly in early trade. The price index pulled back and moved sideways halfway into the session. It bottomed at 6227 points and clawed back to peak at 6246 pts before paring some of the gains at close.

Top gainer of the day, Sharjah Cement spiked 13.5 pct to 92 fils and EK Holding rallied 8.8 pct to 244 fils. Remal slid 17.4 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with 12.8 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s uptick, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the winners. 60 stocks advanced whereas 34 closed lower. Of the 113 counters active on Thursday, 19 closed flat. 2597 deals worth KD 8.83 million were transacted – down 14 pct in value from the day before.

National Industries Group dialed 2 fils up to 142 fils and Gulf Cable followed suit to end at 413 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co was up 3 fils at 208 fils and Kuwait Cement Co eased 1 fil.

Trading

Jazeera Airways was unchanged at 649 fils with thin trading while Humansoft Holding gave up 1 fil to close at KD 3.799. Boubyan Petrochemical Co slipped 5 fils to 628 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical CO dialed up 2 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co dropped 15 fils to 270 fils and ACICO Industries took in 2 fils . Equipment Holding trimmed 0.2 fil and Combined Group Contracting Co added 3 fils before ending at 477 fils.

Mezzan Holding was flat at 770 fils whereas Alrai Media Group shed 6 fils. The company has incurred loss of KD 143,000 in the third quarter of 2017. During the first nine months , profit declined 49% to KD 1.5 million.

Educational Holding Group slipped 6 fils to 302 fils and Independent Petroleum Group dived 25 fils. The company has clocked a 1 pct rise in third quarter profits to KD 1.445 million from the same period last year. In January-September period, earnings jumped 28.2 pct to KD 5.058 mln.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co dialed up 1.2 fils extending last session’s strong gains while KGL Logistics inched 0.1 fil higher. NICBM was up 2 fils at 192 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Al Mutahed rose 2 fils each to close at 240 fils and 340 fils respectively whereas Kuwait International Bank inched 1 fil up to 223 fils.

Burgan Bank eased 1 fils to 304 fils and Warba Bank followed suit to close at 213 fils. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the session.

Kuwait Investment Co took in 2 fils whereas International Financial Advisors and National Investment Co edged up by 0.1 fil. KIPCO paused at 286 fils and Securities House Co gave up 1.5 fils. Unicap closed 0.5 fil in green.

Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) was unchanged at 104 fils and Coast Investment Co inched 0.1 fil higher. KFIC trimmed 0.1 fil and Ektittab Holding gave up 0.5 fil. Sokouk Holding was up 0.9 fil at 49 fils and Al Madina added 2.3 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co fell 1.4 fils to 57.1 fils whereas Al Imtiaz climbed 7 fils to 165 fils. Warba Insurance Co gained 4.9 fils and Baya Investment Co dialed up 2 fils.

Kuwait Real Estate Co tok in1.1 fils and National Real Estate Co ticked 1 fil up. Mazaya Holding stood pat at 107 fils and Salhiya Real Estate gained 9 fils to 354 fils.

The bourse was mostly downbeat during the week. The main index closed lower in four of the five sessions and slid 70 points week-onweek It has tumbled 274 points from start of the month and is trading over 8.5 pct higher year-to-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Zain’s third quarter earnings dropped 7 percent to nearly KD 40 million , compared to KD 43 million for the same period last year. Revenues amounted to KD 259 million and EBITDA stood at KD 104 million. In the 9M period, profits slipped by 1.6 pct to KD 122 million.

Aayan Leasing and Investment has registered a third quarter profit of KD 2.23 million, a 146.4 pct surge from the same period last year. During the first nine months of 2017, the earnings soared 323.3 pct to KD 6.9 million

Gulf Bank of Kuwait’s total shareholders’ equity stood at KD 591.2 million by the end of September 2017. The net revenue from interest totaled KD 97.2 mln in January September period while operating profits stood at KD 89.7 million.

Aqar Real Estate Investments Co’s earnings was down 6.42 pct year-onyear during the third quarter of 2017 to KD 345,140 .In the JanuarySeptember period, profits rose 11.5 percent to KD 1.03 million. The operating revenues rose 14.6 pct to KD 1.48 million in nine-month period.

Credit Rating and Collection Co’s (Tahssilat) losses widened to KD 269,840 in the third quarter of 2017 from KD 61,020 in the same period last year.

During the nine-month period, it logged a profit of KD 830,200 against a loss of KD 291,200 in the same period in 2016.