Kuwait little changed after volatile session

Commercial Bank soars 25 fils; Ooredoo dips

KUWAIT CITY, May 1: Kuwait stocks trod water on Tuesday after seesawing earlier in the week. The All Shares Index ticked 2.17 pts higher in volatile session to 4,801.22 points even as the shares close mixed. Some of the counters like Commercial Bank and Humansoft Holding shone while most of the blue chips remained muted.

The Premier Market rose 2.72 pts to 4,781.38 points while Main Market took in 1.18 pts before closing at 4,836.08 points. The volume turnover meanwhile slumped sharply following Monday’s surge. Over 62 million shares changed hands — a 35.4 pct drop from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Banks outled the rest with 0.38 pct gain whereas oil and gas shed 1.9 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, financial services garnered the highest market share of 25.9 percent and banks followed with 24.2 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, Commercial Bank climbed 25 fils to 415 fils extending last session’s gains and Humansoft Holding too continued its winning spree with a 20 fils jump to 415 fils. Mabanee Co rallied 9 fils to 645 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement soared 40 fils to KD 1.140.

Zain was unchanged at 390 fils after trading 3.6 million shares whereas Ooredoo shed 20 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) fell 2 fils to 709 fils and Agility gave up 4 fils to wind up at 865 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait clipped 2 fils and Kuwait Finance House climbed 4 fils on back of over 3 million shares. The bank’s profit has risen by 13.9 pct to KD 43.97 million in the three-month period ended March 2018 from same period last year.

The market opened flat and edged higher in early trade. The index rose briefly to scale the day’s highest level of 4,811 pts almost half way into the session and retreated thereafter as sentiment weakened. It continued to fall and bottomed at 4,784 points before clawing back into green at close.

Top gainer of the day, GIH vaulted 19.4 percent to 20.9 fils and Bayan Investment Co climbed 12.5 pct to stand next. MENA Holding plunged 43.8 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Ajwan topped the volume with over 6 million shares.

Despite the day’s slight uptick, the lowers outnumbered the winners. 43 stocks advanced whereas 63 closed lower. Of the 119 counters active on Tuesday, 13 closed flat. 3,319 deals worth KD 11.49 million were transacted — down 20 pct in value from the day before.

National Industries Group fell 3 fils to 156 fils and Mezzan Holding was down 8 fils at 712 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dipped 9 fils to 830 fils partly erasing Monday’s gains and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co dialed down 2 fils.

Kuwait Cement Co slid 16 fils to 445 fils and Gulf Cable fell 3 fils to 391 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co rallied 8 fils on back of 1.2 milion shares and Hilal Cement Co gained 6.7 fils. Equipment Holding stood pat at 29.9 fils.

Slumped

Kuwait National Cinema Co slumped 32 fils to KD 1.065 while NICBM was down 6 fils at 144 fils. Burgan Well Drilling Co and Combined Group Contracting Co dropped 8 fils each to close at 72 fils and 422 fils each.

ALAFCO slipped 5 fils to 360 fils KGL Logistics ticked 0.3 fil up to 138 fils. UPAC eased 1 fil to 709 fils whereas Inovest and EK Holding closed flat. Al Rai Media Group took in 2 fils to end at 138 fils. NAPESCO paused at 724 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank slipped 4 fils to 262 fils whereas Kuwait International Bank and Warba Bank trimmed 1 fil each. Ahli United Bank ticked 1 fil up to 174 fils and Burgan Bank climbed 5 fils to 264 fils.

Al Ahli Bank was down 9 fils at 321 fils and Al Mutahed took in 1 fil. The bank has posted a 5.1 pct increase in Q1 profits to KD 16.82 million in its profits for the first quarter of 2018.

KIPCO inched 1 fiils higher whereas Kuwait Investment Co and Coast Investment Co paused at 134 fils and 30.2 fils respectively. Securties House Co trimmed 0.2 fil and Bayan Investment Co gained 4 fils.

International Financial Advisors eased 0.1 fil to 25 fils and National Investment Co gave up 0.8 fil. Al Deera Holding ticked fils up and Sokouk Holding slipped 1.3 fils to 40.8 fils.

Noor Financial Investment fell 0.6 fil to 48.4 fils and Al Imtiaz stood pat at 128 fils. Amwal climbed 5.1 fils whereas Gulf Insurance and Warba Insurance clipped 2 fils each.

Kuwait Real Estate eased 0.4 fil to 47.3 fils whereas United Real Estate closed flat at 58 fils. National Real Estate and Mazaya Holding tripped 2 fils each while Salhiya Real Estate gave up 2 fils.

The market has been mixed so far during the week and has shed 6 points in last three sessions even as the key index has slid 204 pts from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.

In the bourse related news, Shuaiba Industrial’s first quarter earnings dipped 36.3 percent to KD 402,950 during the first quarter of 2018 as against first quarter of 2017. The decline in profits is attributed to higher sales costs.

Boubyan Petrochemical has acquired 1.06 million shares in Educational Holding Group for KD 0.308 per share, for a total value of about KD 327,200 taking the total stake to 82.52 percent from 82.09 pct.

Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) has registered a 26.7 pct jump in profits to KD 2.18 million during the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period of 2017. Earnings per share stood at 12.03 fils as against 11.58 fils in first quarter of last year.

Educational Holding Group has incurred a loss of KD 2.66 million during the first six months that ended on Feb 28, 2018 as compared to profits of KD 3.18 million in the corresponding period last year. The operating profits stood at KD 3.77 million, a 17 percent higher increase fro the same period in 2017.

Shuaiba Industrial’s profits surged 101.4 pct to KD 419,000 during the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the same period in the previous year. During 2017, the earnings ticked up by 1.6 percent to KD 1.9 million from KD 1.87 million in year before. The board has recommended a cash dividend of 17 percent or 17 fils per share for FY17.

Kuwait Cement Co has posted a 15.4 pct drop in profits during the fourth quarter of 2017 to KD 4.94 mln from KD 4.28 million in last quarter of 2016. During fiscal year 2017, earnings were down 11.8 percent to KD 17.19 million. The board members have recommended a cash dividend of 20 pct or 20 fils per share for 2017.