KSE ends action in red, closing at 7,048 points

01/11/2010 00:00 AST

The price index of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended trading on Sunday with a decrease of 3.7 points to 7,063.9 points, while the weighted index lost 3.4 points, reaching 474.21 points. Trades came to 4,365 transactions, worth about 38.6 million Kuwaiti dinars, and volume was at 370.3 million shares upon closing. Two out of the eight sector indices were in green, and six were red.

The biggest loser was the insurance sector, which was down 0.53 percent, while the biggest gainer was the investment sector whose index was up 0.28 percent. The leading high share was the stock of Dar Al-Thuraya Real Estate Company, while the biggest loss was suffered by the Al-Rai Media Group Company stock.

The price index of KSE was down 19.6 points to 7,048 points at 11:17 a.m. Sunday, while the weighted index reached 474.05 points, after losing 3.56 points. Trades came to 3,306 worth about KD 29 million, with volume coming to 282 million shares. The price index of KSE dropped 10.4 points by 9:25 a.m. Sunday to 7,056.8 points, while the weighted index also dropped 2.16 points to read 475.45 points.

The session saw 810 trades so far at KD 7.9 million involving 65 million shares. Kuwait Finance House ended flat, having been down 3.3 percent intraday, after the Islamic lender posted a 23 percent decline in third-quarter (Q3) profit.

"KFH's results were below expectations. We are of the view that this was mainly due to increasing provisions - its operating profitability hasn't changed and continues to do well," said Shahid Hameed, Global Investment House head of asset management for the Gulf region.

"KFH's shares have lagged in the banking rally of the past three to four months on expectations it would underperform in terms of earnings, so the Q3 numbers are largely already priced-in." Kuwait's bank index fell 0.5 percent, trimming its gains to 33 percent since July 4.

Egypt's Orascom Telecom (OT) plunged to a 19-month low on Sunday after Algeria said the operator must settle all liabilities before the state concludes a deal to nationalize OT's local mobile phone unit. OT fell 3.6 percent to its lowest close since 17, March. 2009. The firm has reluctantly agreed to negotiate terms for the nationalization of its Djezzy unit and now wants the deal concluded as quickly as possible, but the new conditions imposed by Algeria are likely to delay the process.

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Agencies