Kuwait market swings north, volume shrinks

REAM vaults 210 fils; NBK slips

By John Mathews

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 12: Kuwait stocks swung higher on Monday following last session’s moderate pullback. The price index climbed 67.47 pts to 6707.45 points paced by buying in some of the mid-caps even as the heavyweights closed mostly in red.

Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Cable Vision vaulted 25 pct to 38.89 fils and REAM soared 19 pct to stand next. Kuwait Hotels skidded 19.9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and KGL Logistics topped the volume with over 5 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 52 stocks advanced whereas 47 closed lower. Of the 119 counters active on Monday, 20 closed flat. 2477 deals worth over KD 9 million were transacted — down marginal by 0.5 pct in value from the day before.

National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 159 fil while Gulf Cable and Kuwait Portland Cement Co stood pat at 425 fil and KD 1.020 respectively. Equipment Holding Co edged 0.9 fil into green.

Kuwait Food Co (Americana) slid 50 fil to KD 1.000 while Metal and Recycling Co gave up 3.5 fil. Hilal Cement Co slipped 10 fil to 110 fils and NICBM dialed up 2 fils before settling at 200 fils. KPPC took in 0.8 fils to end at 55 fils.

Jazeera Airways fell 5 fils to 610 fils extending last session’s losses and Kuwait Foundry Co gained 15 fils. Kuwait Hotels sank 49 fils to 197 fils and Educational Holding held ground at 314 fils. OSOS inched 0.2 fils higher to 92.2 fils.

Boubyan Petrochemical Co added 4 fils and Qurain Petrochemical Industries rose 33 fils. The company has posted a 10.2 pct rise in profits to KD 5.47 million during the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2017 from same period last year. During 9M ended on 31 Dec, the profits fell 3.3 pct to KD 16.03 million.

Humansoft Holding slipped 10 fils to KD 3.515 and NAPESCO ticked 1 fil higher to 795 fils. Burgan Well Drilling Co climbed 12 fils to 82 fils and UPAC paused at 560 fils. YIACO Medical dipped 38 fils to 154 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co dialed up 2 fils and KGL Logistics ticked 0.6 fils higher to 52.5 fils. Mezzan Holding Co was down 10 fils at 770 fils.

In the banking sector, Burgan Bank rose 3 fils to 311 fils whereas Kuwait International Bank trimmed 1 fil. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the session.

Gulf Bank took in 1 fil before closing at 242 fils and Boubyan Bank extended last session’s gains with 7 fils rise to 484 fils. Warba Bank stood pat at 225 fils.

National Investment Co ticked 0.1 fil up to 100 fils and Commercial Facilities gave up 1 fil. International Financial Advisors added 0.5 fils while Coast Investment Co and Securities House Co trimmed 0.5 fils each.

Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) and Unicap were flat at 112 fils and 45 fils respectively whereas KMEFIC took in 1 fil. Al Mal Investment added 0.9 fils Al Deera Holding fell 3.1 fils to 23.9 fils.

Noor Financial Investment Co edged 1 fil into green and Tamdeen Investment gained 5 fils. Ektittab Holding clipped 1.3 fils and KAMCO was down 4.1 fils at 64.9 fils. Gulf Insurance Co paused at 700 fils.

United Real Estate Co climbed 4 fils to 74 fils while Tamdeen Real Estate Co and Mabanee Co were unchanged at 395 fils and 720 fils respectively. National Real Estate added 1 fil and Mazaya Holding paused at 121 fil and n 108 fils respectively

The bourse has been mixed so far during the week and has gained 53 points in last two sessions. It had added 20 pts from start of the month and is trading 4.67 pct higher yearto-date. KSE, with 188 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Zain has reported a a 9.4% increase in fourth quarter profits to KD 38 million as compared to Q4 of 2016. In 2017 fiscal year, the earnings were marginally up by 0.8 percent to KD 160 million and earnings per share stood at 39 fils. The board has recommended a cash dividend of 35 fils per share for FY 2017.

Mabanee has logged 1.6pct drop in in profits to KD 12.45 million during the fourth quarter of 2017 from same period a year ago. In 2017 fiscal year, the earnings ticked up by 1 pct to KD 49.15 million . The board members has recommended a cash dividend of 10% for FY17, in addition to 5% bonus shares or 5-for-100 shares

Aqar Real Estate Investments’ fourth quarter profits dropped by 14.7 pct from the same period last year to to KD 732,000. During fiscal year 2017, earnings saw a marginal year-on-year rise of 1.1 percent to KD 1.76 million. The board of directors has recommended cash dividend of 6 pct or 6 fils per share for FY17.

Al Imtiaz Investment Group slipped into red in the fourth quarter of 2017 as it incurred KD 2.9 million in losses in the quarter against profit of KD 6.7 million in the yearago period. In the full-year 2017, it posted a profit of KD 30.85 mln, up 124.7% from previous year. The company attributed its higher annual profits to selling a part of its stake in an associate,