KSE extends losses to fourth session in a row – NBK drops 10 fils;

Humansoft soars

19/10/2016 05:04 AST

Kuwait stocks swung lower on Monday, extending the losses to fourth straight session. The bourse dropped 22.04 pts in choppy trade to 5,287.11 pts amid moderate selling led by some of banks and investment shares.

The KSX 15 benchmark slipped 5.23 points to 797.33 pts taking the month’s losses to 17 points while weighted index gave up 2 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile rose for the second straight day mostly on speculative trading. 76.7 million shares changed hands — a 42 pct surge from Sunday.

The sectors closed mostly in the negative turf. Industrials outshone the rest with 0.83 pct gain whereas financial services dipped 1.65 percent, the weakest performer of the day. In terms of volume, telecommunications notched the highest market share of 29.4 pct while financial services and real estate trailed with 27 pct and 23.4 percent contributions respectively.

Among the day’s losers, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 10 fils to KD 0.560 with brisk trading and Commercial Bank of Kuwait was down by same measure to end at 380 fils. Kuwait Food Co (Americana) climbed 20 fils recouping the day before losses.

Zain fell 5 fils to 330 fils and Wataniya Telecom (Ooredoo) stood pat at KD 1.100 with thin trading. Kuwait Telecommunication Co (VIVA) too was unchanged at KD 0.860 and Agility was down 5 fils at KD 0.465 with a volume of 1.23 million shares.

National Investment Co shed 8 fils after trading 1.5 million shares and Kuwait Projects Co paused at KD 0.500. The company has registered a net profit of KD 28 million and earnings per share of 18.30 fils in the January-June period.

The market opened on a tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index fell sharply thereafter amid selling in select counters and plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,267.27 pts well past the mid-session. It however clawed back some of the losses in the final minutes.

Top gainer of the day, Sanam Real Estate Co vaulted 9 pct to 30 fils while Kuwait Cable Vision Co climbed 8.9 pct to stand close behind. First Dubai slid 9 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and National Bank of Kuwait topped the volume with 12.3 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s downtick, the losers vastly outnumbered the winners. 16 stocks advanced whereas 66 closed lower. Of the 121 counters active on Monday, 37 closed flat. 2,121 deals worth KD 13.9 million were transacted — a 174 pct surge in value from the day before

National Industries Group slipped 4 fils after trading 1.4 million shares and Gulf Cable was down 10 fils at 360 fils. Heavy Industries Engineering and Shipbuilding Co clipped 2 fils and Shuaiba Paper Industries Co rose 10 fils to 250 fils.

Kuwait Foundry Co eased 2 fils to 164 fils and RISCO stood pat at 300 fils. The company has registered a net profit of KD 2.99 million and earnings per share of 30.50 fils in the first half of 2016.

Stalled

Kuwait Portland Cement Co dialed down 2 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co stalled at KD 0.650. The company has registered a net profit of KD 219,574 and earnings per share of 1.63 fils in the first six months of 2016.

Jazeera Airways dropped 20 fils to KD 0.820 whereas Humansoft Holding vaulted 100 fils. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co inched 1 fil into red and PAPCO gave up 4 fils before closing at 92 fils. ACICO Industries Co gained 10 fils and Equipment Holding Co clipped 1.5 fils.

Mezzan Holding Co was unchanged at KD 0.960 and Zima Holding Co followed suit. The company has posted a net profit of KD 33,489 and earnings per share of 0.33 fil in the first half of 2016.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank eased 2 fils to 226 fils while Al Ahli Bank and Ahli United Bank were down 5 fils each at 305 fils and 380 fils respectively. Kuwait International Bank gave up 2 fils to settle at 182 fils extending an identical fall in the day before.

Kuwait Fina

Arab Times