Kuwait stocks tumble into red zone after robust gains
Telecom shares outpace rest
By John Mathews
Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 21: Kuwait stocks slipped into red on Sunday after clocking robust gains in the week before. The price index dropped 18.98 pts in sluggish trade to 6,620 points weighed by profit booking in select counters led by telecom majors. The other heavyweights however closed mixed.
The KSX 15 gauge dropped 4.24 pts to 962.45 points trimming the month’s gains to 54 points while weighted index 1.83 points lower. The volume turnover meanwhile tapered slightly following previous session’s surge. 142 million shares changed hands — down 6.3 pct from Thursday
The sectors closed mostly in the turf. Telecom shares outpaced the rest with 1.63 pct gain whereas oil and gas shed 1.79 percent, the biggest loser of the day. Volume wise, real estate garnered the highest market share of 37 pct while industrials trailed with 19.2 pct contribution
Among the notable losers, fell 4 fils to 789 fils after trading 1.69 million shares and Burgan Bank was down 5 fils at 314 fils. Kuwait Food Co (Americana) gave up 5 fills before settling at KD 1.050 and Mabanee Co followed retreated 4 fils to 733 fils.
Zain dipped 9 fils to 488 fils after trading 4.5 fils and Ooredoo dived 45 fils to KD 1.055. Kuwait Telecommunications Co added 3 fils to close at 779 fils and Agility was down 8 fils 888 fils paring the month’s gains to 86 fils.
Al Ahli Bank shed 9 fils and Gulf Bank ticked 1 fil into green. The bank’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.
The market opened on an uppish note and edged higher in early trade. The main index scaled the day’s highest level of 6,657 points and drifted lower and profit booking kicked after recent gains. It continued to meander towards south to bottom at 6,591 pts in the final minutes before clawing back some of the gains at close.
Top gainer of the day Al Mudon soared 17.9 points 42 fils and Kuwait Cable Vision Co climbed 25 fils to stand next. Tamkeen slid 22.8 percent to 22.8 fils and KGL Logistics topped the volume with 17.4 million shares.
Mirroring the day’s drop, the losers outnumbered the winners. 46 stocks advanced whereas 64 close lower. Of the 128 counters active on Sunday, 18 closed flat. 5,002 deals worth KD 16.4 million shares were transacted — a 21.7 percent drop in value from Thursday
National Industries Group fell 3 fils to 122 fils after trading 1.7 fils while Gulf Cable took in 2 fils before closing at 454 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co trimmed 1 fil and Kuwait Portland Cement climbed 6 fils to 991 fils.
Jazeera Airways rose 4 fils to 654 fils and ALAFCO was down 7 fils at 373 fils after eking modest gains in the last session. Metal and Recycling Co climbed 5 fils to 75 fils with thin trading whereas ACICO Industries slipped 5 fils to 250 fils.
Kuwait Foundry Co pulled 3 fils higher to was up 3 fils at 226 fils and Hilal Cement Co dived 28 fils to 125 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co clipped 2 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical eased 1 fil to 354 fils. Kuwait Cinema Co stood pat at KD 1.109.
Combined Group Contracting Co dropped 11 fils to 455 fils and Independent Petroleum Group tumbled 40 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 the January-September period the earnings jumped 28.2 percent to KD 5.058 million.
Rallied
Educational Holding Co rose 3 fils to 308 fils and Automated Systems Co gained 12 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co rallied 10 fils on back of over 6 million shares while KCPC and Humasoft Holding closed flat at 150 fils and KD 3.800 respectively.
EK Holding climbed 10 fils to 280 fills and whereas Mezzan Holding shed 10 fils. Al Rai Media Group and OSOS ticked 1 fil into red GFH dialed 2 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts fell 2 fils to 202 fils.
In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House rallied 4 fils on back of over 2 fils and AlMutahed stood pat at 350 fils. Commercial Bank was not traded during the day.
Kuwait International Bank inched 1 fil higher to 236 fils and Boubyan Bank took in 2 fils. Warba Bank clipped 2 fils before settling at 223 fils
Kuwait Investment Co dialed up 2 fils whereas National Investment Co and Securities House Co and gave up 2 fils each to end at 104 fils and 56.8 fils respectively. Coast Investment Co closed 0.9 fil in red.
KIPCO closed flat at 309 fils and KAMCO shed 9.6 fils. KMEFIC eased 0.4 fil to 26.4 fils while KFIC and Al Mal Investment 0.2 fil each. Osoul was unchanged at 50 fils and Bayan Investment ticked 0.3 fil down. Sokouk Holding gave up 2.3 fils and Unicap added 0.9 fil.
Ektittab Holding and Al Madina paused at 32.2 fils and 38.3 fils respectively whereas Noor Financial and Investment Co clipped 1.4 fils. Warba Insurance Co gained 5 fils and National Real Estate Co slipped 3 fils and Salhiya real Estate dialed down 1 fil.
The bourse was largely positive during last week.
The main index closed higher in three of the five sessions and gained 79 points week-on-week. It has rallied 250 pts from start of the month after adding 11.8 percent during whole of 2017. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Mezzan Holding Company posted a 10.5 pct year-on-year drop in profits to KD 2.8 million for the third quarter of 2017, in the first nine months of the year,ernins dipped by 23.1 percent to KD 10.1 million. Revenues grow 4.3 pct to KD 49.8 million in Q3 , while in 9M period was almost unchanged year-on-year at KD 157.6 million
Agility has recorded net profits of KD 49.2 million in the first nine months of 2017 while the return on equity increased by 13.7 percent to 39.1 fils per share. In the July-September period, the earnings soared 714 pct to WD 17.8 million, increasing by 714% year-on-year.
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.
Mashaer Holding incurred a losses of KD 597,180 in the third quarter of 2017, as compared to KD 503,400 profit in the year ago period. In the first nine-months the company suffered losses of KD 19,280 as against KD 584,800 profits in the same period in 2016 and is attributed to a provision of tax claim valued at KD 1.03 million.