Kuwait bourse chalks modest 15.35 pts gain

12/02/2014 09:25 AST

Kuwait stocks eked a modest rise on Tuesday as it continued its mixed trend. The market climbed 15.35 pts to 7,857.04 points paring higher early gains. The market was buoyed by the news that government has given approval for the bids to execute multi-billion upgrade of refineries. Some of the mid and low caps shined whereas banks closed mixed. The KSX 15 benchmark eased 0.61 pts to 1,094.15 points and is up 17 points from start of the month while weighted index inched 0.12 pts higher. The volume turnover meanwhile bounced back after the 4-day slide. 318.57 million shares changed hands — a 42.49 pct jump from the day before. The sectors closed mixed. Insurance outpaced the rest with 0.92 percent gain whereas banks pulled 0.23 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, real estate clocked the highest market share of 36.26 percent and financial services stood close behind with 35.10 pct contribution.

Among the movers, Kuwait National Cinema Co climbed 20 fils to KD 1.160 and Gulf Cable too was up by same measure to wind up at KD 0.810. Burgan Well Drilling Co added 10 fils and Boubyan Petrochemical followed suit. National Industries Group climbed 8 fils and Contracting and Marine Services Co followed suit. Kuwait Portland Cement rallied 20 fils to KD 1.400 while Credit Rating and Collection Co rose 8 fils to KD 0.110. Kuwait Foundry Co was up 5 fils at KD 0.400. Telecom major Zain was flat at KD 0.680 off earlier lows and the counter saw 2.44 million shares change hands while Wataniya Telecom held the ground unchanged at KD 1.142. The stock has been trending lower and is down over 660 fils from start of the month. Agility eased 10 fils to KD 0.640.

Flat
The market opened flat and ticked slightly higher in early trade. The index eased briefly before revving to peak at 7,871.88 pts almost half way into the session amid buying in select counters. It however gave up some of the gains in the second half and closed with modest uptick. Top gainer of the day, Tahsillat rallied 7.84 pct to KD 0.110 and United Real Estate Co climbed 7.69 pct to stand next. Kuwait Finance and Investment Co slid 5.62 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Gulf Finance House topped the volume with 35.37 million shares. Reflecting the day’s uptick, the winners outnumbered the losers. 56 stocks advanced whereas 48 closed lower. Of the 151 counters active on Tuesday, 47 closed flat. 6,351 deals worth KD 50.82 million were transacted — a 86.34 pct surge in value from the day before.

On the downside, Kuwait Cement Co shed 10 fils and RISCO was down 5 fils at KD 0.320. The Energy House Co eased 4 fils and Gulf Franchising Holding Co gave up 5 fils to close at 86 fils. City Group retreated 5 fils to KD 0.450. Equipment Holding Co flunked 2 fils and United Industries Co was down 6 fils. The company has posted a net profit of KD 28.08 million and earnings per share of 62.70 fils in the year ending Jan 31, 2013. The Board of Directors has recommended a cash dividend of 25%. Jazeera Airways closed flat at KD 0.495 and Aviation Lease and Finance Co followed suit. The company has posted a net profit of KD 4.35 million and earnings per share of 5.58 fils in the quarter ending 31/12/2013, down from KD 11.14 million profit and earnings per share of 14.30 fils in the same period of 2014.

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Arab Times