Kuwait Slips Into Red Turf - Volume Shrinks

Kuwait stocks slipped into red on Wednesday following last session’s rebound. The All Shares Index fell 6.12 points in a tame session to 5130.38 pts weighed by Humansoft Holding and some of the mid-caps even as the heavyweights remained largely subdued. The Premier Market fell 3.46 points to 5336.50 points trimming the month’s gains to 75 points while Main Market shed 11.01 points to end at 4775.93 pts.

The volume turnover meanwhile shrank slightly to end below 100 million mark. Over 92 million shares changed hands – down 13 percent from the day before. The sectors closed mostly in red. Technology outshone the rest with 11.11 pct jump while oil and gas dropped 2.24 percent the worst performer of the day. Volume wise, real estate garnered the highest market share of 50 percent and banks trailed far behind with 18 pct contribution. In the individual shares, Humansoft Holding tumbled 86 fils to KD 3.225 taking the month’s losses to 275 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement shed 14 fils.

Mabanee Co partly erased last session’s gains with a 5 fils drop and Boubyan Petrochemical Co bucked the trend to climb 14 fils. Zain was unchanged at 476 fils with a volume of 1.2 million and Ooredoo ticked 1 fils higher to 780 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) rose 7 fils to 718 fils and Agility gave up 4 fils to close at 839 fils.

The market opened firm and drifted sideways in early trade. The main index continued to move in a narrow range and scaled the day’s highest level of 5140 points half way into the session and retreated thereafter. It bottomed at 5122 points and clawed back before closing with small losses.

Top gainer of the day, Wethaq Takaful spiked 13 pct to 30 fils nd Automated Systems Co climbed 11.11 percent to stand next. Shuaiba Industrial shed 10 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait Real Estate topped the volume with 25.9 million. Reflecting the day’s drop, the losers outnumbered the winners. 43 stocks advanced whereas 54 closed lower.

Of the 123 counters active on Wednesday, 26 closed flat. 3392 deals worth KD 12.36 million were transacted – a 54 pct dip in value from the day before. National Industries Group eased 1 fil to 161 fils and Mezzan Holding gained 8 fils.

Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co climbed 6 fils to 503 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical was up 6 fils at 336 fils. ACICO Industries slipped 6 fils to 202 fils. NAPESCO and KCPC dialed up 2 fils each to end at 820 fils and 244 fils respectively.

KCPC has recorded a whopping 541.7 pct jump second quarter profits to KD 1.36 million while in the first six months , the profits surged 433 percent to KD 2.7 million. Jazeera Airways rose 5 fils to 740 fils and ALAFCO trimmed 1 fil.

Jazeera’s second quarter earnings dropped 23.6 pct to KD 1.8 million whereas operating revenues jumped 43.3 pct to KD 20.1 million. In the first half net profits rose 6.4 pct to KD 1.4 mln. Independent Petroleum Group dipped 18 fils to 421 fils and GPI inched 0.l fil into green. IFA Hotels and Resorts paused at 96 fils and OSOS gave up 3 fil to wind up at 90 fils. Mashaer Holding tripped 0.5 fil to close at 44 fils.

Shed
Kuwait Foundry Co took in 1 fil and Combined Group Contracting Co shed 7 fil before closing at 363 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co added 1.8 fils and KGL Logistics ticked 0.3 fil higher to 43.3 fils. Al Rai Media Group dialed up 1.1 fils.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait rose 2 fils to 824 fils on back of 1.6 million shares whereas Kuwait International Bank and Burgan Bank trimmed 1 fil each to settle at 240 fils and 251 fils respectively. Warba Bank stood pat at 236 fils. Kuwait Finance House and Ahlui United Bank clipped 1 fil each and Boubyan Bank dialed up 2 fils to end at 563 fils. Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were flat at 510 fils and 295 fils respectively whereas KIPCO eased 1 fil to 214 fils and Gulf Finance House tripped 0.3 fil.

Kuwiat Investment Co was unchanged at 123 fils whereas International Financial Advisors and Coast Investment Co trimmed 0.3 fil each. NIH climbed 4.7 fils to 71 fils. KAMCO and Tamdeen Investment held ground at 70 fils and 280 fils respectively whereas Unicap fell 0.5 fil. ALOLA ticked 0.1 fil into red and Ektittab Holding edged 0.2 fil into red. KMEFIC took in 0.3 fil and Aayan inched 0.2 fil up.

Bayan Investment fell 0.0 fil to 48.9 fils and Al Imtiaz dialed up 1 fil. Noor Financial Investment Co added 0.8 fil and Gulf Insurance Co slipped 9 fils to 640 fils. Ahleia Insurance Co paused at 427 fils. National Real Estate Co fell 2 fils to 102 fils and Salhiya Real Estate slipped 4 fils to 328 fils. United Real Estate ticked 1 fil down and Kuwait Real Estate closed flat. The market has been mixed so far during the week falling 18 points in last four sessions and has slipped 10 points from start of the month. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.

 

SOURCE : ARABTIMES

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