Kuwait equities edge lower; volume shrinks

Jazeera Airways drops 10 fils; Zain gains

KUWAIT CITY, May 13: Kuwait stocks tripped on Sunday eking modest gains in the previous week. The All Shares Index slipped 9.33 pts in choppy session to 4,819.30 points weighed by some of the industrials even as blue chips remained mostly subdued.

The Premier Market slipped 7 points to 4,790.27 pts while main market shed 13.52 pts trimming month’s gains to 36 points . The volume turnover meanwhile turned anemic as it hit month’s lowest level. 39.5 million shares changed hands — down 18.7 pct from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in red. Oil and gas outpaced the rest with 1.7 pct gain whereas basic materials dropped 2.52 percent — the biggest loser of the session. Volume wise, real estate accounted for the highest market share of 35.8 percent and financial services trailed with 25.4 pct contribution.

In the individual performers, Boubyan Petrochemical Co dipped 35 fils to 845 fils while Mezzan Holding was down 13 fils at 715 fils. Mabanee Co fell 3 fils to 640 fils with thin trading and Jazeera Airways erased Thursday’s gains with 10 fils drop to 705 fils.

Zain climbed 6 fils to 385 fils on back of 3.8 million shares and Ooredoo stood pat at 869 fils off steep early lows. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) rallied 16 fils to 719 fils and Agility gave up 3 fils before closing at 760 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait closed flat at 738 fils and Boubyan Bank fell 4 fils. The bank has registered a 17.8 pct jump in profits to KD 12.56 million during the first quarter of 2017 from same quarter in 2017.

The market opened firm and rose briefly in early trade. The index scaled the day’s highest level of 4,835 points and fell sharply as sentiment turned soggy. It see sawed thereafter and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 4,816 pts in the final minutes before closing with slight losses.

Top gainer of the day, Al Aqaria soared 21.8 pct to 32.9 fils and Energy Holding jumped 10.7 percent to stand next. ACICO Industries tumbled 11.5 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding Group topped the volume with 5.4 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s drop, the losers outnumbered the winners. 40 stocks advanced whereas 46 closed lower. Of the 99 counters active on Sunday, 13 closed flat. 2,153 deals worth KD 6.2 million were transacted — a 30.7 percent drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was unchanged at 160 fils with a volume of 1.5 million and Mezzan Holding was down 13 fils at 715 fils. Gulf Cable ticked 1 fil higher whereas Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co stood pat at 322 fils.

UPAC dipped 19 fils to 690 fils and ALAFCO dialed down 2 fils. ACICO Industries skidded 30 fils to 230 fils and NICBM was down 19 fils at 171 fils.

Added

Kuwait Gulf Links Transport Co added 0.7 fil on back of over 1 million shares and KGL Logistics eased 0.7 fil to 42 fils. Equipment Holding trimmed 0.7 fil and OSOS inched 0.1 fil into red.

NAPESCO gained 15 fils and Human Soft Holding climbed 19 fils to KD 3.744. has posted a 9.7% rise in profits to KD 7.83 million during the first quarter of 2018.The increase in quarterly profits is attributed to higher revenues from company’s expanding business.

Inovest dialed up 2 fils to close at 68.7 fils and Al Rai Media Group gave up 2 fils before settling at 130 fils. Al Qurain Petrochemical fell 5 fils to 345 fils.

On the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House and Kuwait International Bank clipped 1 fil each to close at 526 fils and 220 fils respectively whereas Burgan Bank was unchanged at 263 fils. Warba Bank paused at 263 fils.

Commercial Bank dropped 9 fils to 486 fils and Al Mutahed was down 4 fils at 281 fils. Al Ahli Bank gained 8 fils and Gulf Bank took in 1 fil to close at 254 fils.

KIPCO dialed up 2 fils and GFH was down 3 fils ay 105 fils. Kuwait Investment Co slipped 5 fils to 112 fils and National Investment Co fell 3 fils to 90 fils. International Financial Advisors edged 0.3 fil higher to 26.4 fils and Coast Investment Co added 1.1 fils.

Bayan Investment Co and Securities House Co tripped 0.2 fil each while Arzan Investment took in 2 fils to closed at 30 fils. GIH dialed up 0.7 fil whereas Al Mal Investment and Aayan Investment ticked 0.4 fil into red.

Ektittab Holding and Sokouk Holding took in 0.4 fil each while Noor Financial Investment added 0.3 fil. Al Madina eased 0.2 fil to 27.7 fils and Amwal Investment held ground at 50 fils.

Kuwait Real Estate Co was unchanged at 46.5 fils and National Real Estate Co was down 5 fils at 108 fils. Salhiya Real Estate Co clipped 2 fils and Al Aqaria climbed 5.9 fils to 32.9 fils. Mazaya Holding edged 1.4 fils lower to 96.6 fils.

The market was largely positive during last week. The index closed higher in four of the five sessions gaining 27 pts week-on-week and is trading 39 pts higher 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 year-on-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 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 for the same period in 2017.