Kuwait stocks wind up week with modest rise

Jazeera Airways climbs 10 fils; NBK flat

By John Mathews

KUWAIT CITY, May 10: Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Thursday to wind up the week on an upbeat note. The All Shares Index climbed 14.08 points to 4,828.63 points helped by some of the mid-caps even as the blue chips remained mostly subdued. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co dipped 12 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and National Industries Group topped the volume with 5.4 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered the losers. 52 stocks advanced whereas 48 closed lower. Of the 114 counters active on Thursday, 14 closed flat. 2,679 deals worth over KD 9 million were transacted — a 3.8 pct rise in value from the day before.

Kuwait Foundry Co was unchanged at 248 fils and Kuwait National Cinema Co was up 3 fils at KD 1.065. Kuwait Cement Co gained 6 fils while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co trimmed 1 fil to close at 322 fils.

Humansoft Holding jumped 25 fils to KD 3.725 and Combined Group Contracting Co rose 7 fils to 433 fils. IFA Hotels and Resorts inched 1 fil lower to 102 fils and Equipment Holding dialed down 0.6 fil.

NAPESCO added 3 fils and ALAFCO partly recouped last session’s losses with 3 fils gain.

Climbed

UPAC climbed 9 fils to 709 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gained 7 fils. The company has posted a 4.4% rise in profits to KD 19.17 million in the first three months of 2018 compared to KD 18.36 mln for the same period last year.

EK Holding took in 2 fils and Inoves inched 1.6 fils into red. Al Rai Media Group was up 4 fils at 132 fils and OSOS eased 0.4 fil to 83.3 fils.

In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House ticked 1 fil lower after trading 1.2 million shares whereas Gulf Bank and Burgan Bank held ground at 253 fils and 263 fils respectively.

Kuwait International Bank took in 1 fil and Warba Bank stood pat at 239 fils. Al Mutahed gave up 3 fils before closing at 285 fils and Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.

KIPCO and Al Imtiaz added 1 fil each to close at 243 fils and 130 fils respectively whereas Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) gave up 3 fils to close at 102 fils. Coast Investment Co eased 1 fil to 30.9 fils and Securities House inched 0.5 fil into green.

Kuwait Investment Co climbed 6 fils t0 117 fils and National Investment Co inched 0.2 fil higher. GIH and Aayan Investment paused at 17.2 fils and 30.4 fils respectively whereas Bayan Investment closed 2.1 fils in green.

Al Madina and Sokouk rose 0.9 fils each while Al Deera Holding trimmed 0.8 fil. Al Salam ticked 0.4 fil lower and Noor Financial Investment Co gave up 0.9 fil. Kuwiat Insurance Co jumped 13 fils to 260 fils and Gulf Insurance shed 9 fils. First Takaful slipped 5 fils to 45.5 fils.

Kuwait Real Estate Co dialed down 0.4 fil whereas Mazaya Holding and Salhiya Real Estate clipped 1 fil each. National Real Estate climbed 5 fils and Al Aqaria added 2 fils.

The market has been largely positive during the week. The index closed higher in four of the five sessions gaining 27 pts week-onweek and has rallied 29 points from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.

In the bourse related news, Injazzat Real Estate Development has recorded a 53.6 percent yearon-year drop in its profits to KD 1.08 million during the first quarter of 2018, compared to KD 2.35 mln in Q1 of 2017.

Aqar Real Estate Investments has posted a 23.4% drop in profits to KD 255.760 in the three-month period ending March 2018 from KD 333,910 during Q1 of 2017.

Effect Real Estate Company’s losses swelled to 19.7% year-onyear to KD 351,140 for the fiscal year ended Jan 31, 2018 as compared to KD 293,450 during same period last year.

Shuaiba Industrial’s first quarter earnings s 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% 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% higher increase fro the same period in 2017.