KSE climbs 12.07 pts; volume drops sharply– Americana rebounds 40 fils

08/06/2016 02:18 AST

Kuwait stocks swung higher on Monday stemming the three-day fall. The price index climbed 12.07 pts in lackluster trade to 5,382.97 even as the board remained mixed. The banks were mostly muted while other heavyweights diverged. The KSX 15 benchmark rose 7.13 pts to 818.38 points trimming the month’s losses to 8 points while weighted index nudged 1.5 points up. The volume turnover meanwhile sank to multi-month low as sentiment weakened. 61.28 million shares changed hands — a 41 pct drop from the day before. The sectors closed mixed.

Consumer services outshone the rest with 1.27 pct gain whereas telecommunications shed 0.67 pct, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, financial services clocked the highest market share of 49.5 percent while real estate and telecommunications trailed far behind with 11.7 pct and 8.4 percent contributions respectively. Among the notable movers, National Bank of Kuwait climbed 10 fils on back of 2.14 million shares and KIPCO was up by same measure to close at KD 0.520. Kuwait Food Co (Americana) saw a 40 fils rebound after heavy losses in the recent sessions. Zain added 5 fils with a volume of 1.8 million recouping the fall in the day before while Wataniya Telecom (Ooredoo) slid 60 fils to KD 1.140. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) stood pat at KD 0.920 off early highs and Agility was up 5 fils at KD 0.475. National Investment Co rose 3 fils on back of over 6 million shares and Bayan Investment Co gave up 0.5 fils to close at 34 fils. The company has incurred a first quarter net loss of KD 199,725 and loss per share of 0.55 fils as compared to net loss of KD 190,494 and loss per share of 0.53 fils in Q1 of 2015.

The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early session. The price index ticked up almost half way into the session amid buying in select counters. It peaked at 5,383.58 pts before closing with modest gains. Top gainer of the day, Kuwait Real Estate Holding Co (Al Aqaria) vaulted 11.11 pct to 25 fils while Al Madar Finance Co climbed 7.14 pct to stand next. Danah Al Safat Foodstuff Co dived 8.7 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Coast topped the volume with over 8 million shares. Mirroring the day’s uptick, the winners outnumbered the losers. 38 stocks advanced whereas 34 closed lower. Of the 100 counters active on Monday, 28 closed flat. 1,492 deals worth KD 7.2 million were transacted — a 2.9 pct fall in value from the day before. National Industries Group fell 4 fils to 108 fils whereas Gulf Cable gained 15 fils. Boubyan Petrochemicals Co shed 10 fils while Kuwait National Cinema Co soared 100 fils extending the strong gains from the last session. United Projects Group stood pat at KD 0.690. Automated Systems Co climbed 25 fils and Humansoft Holding was up 20 fils at KD 1.360. The company has posted a net profit of KD 6.19 million and earnings per share of 51 fils in the quarter ending March 31, 2016.

Slipped

Jazeera Airways Co rose 20 fils recouping the drop on Monday and ALAFCO slipped 8 fils to 198 fils. Jazeera has reported a net profit of over KD 4 million and earnings per share of 20.05 fils in the quarter ending March 1, 2016 up from KD 3.01 million and earnings per share of 7.18 fils in the same period last year. Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co inched 1 fils higher and KGL Logistics Co paused at 85 fils. Zima Holding clipped 0.5 fils and Mezzan Holding was unchanged at KD 1.040. Oos Holding Group was down 4 fils at 102 fils. Gulf Petroleum Investment Co eased 1 fils after trading 1.6 million shares and ACICO Industries Co climbed 10 fils. The company has clocked a net profit of KD 3.85 million and earnings per share of 14.11 fils in the first quarter of 2016 as compared to net profit of KD 3.94 million and earnings per share of 14.46 fils in same period of 2015. In the banking sector, Kuwait Finance House was flat at KD 0.465 and Boubyan Bank followed suit to end at KD 0.405. Gulf Bank, Al Ahli Bank and

Arab Times