Kuwait bourse climbs 19.97 pts; volume dips – Americana soars 100 fils

10/03/2016 07:37 AST

Kuwait stocks pulled higher on Tuesday as it extended its volatile course. The bourse, after a soggy start, climbed 19.97 points to 5,284.68 points led by strong gains is select counters. Some of the banks too eked modest gains even as oil prices continued to trend higher.

The KSX 15 measure ticked 1.82 pts higher to 860.99 points taking the month’s gains to 38 points while weighted index was up 1.2 points at 365.33 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile slipped below the 200 million after holding above the mark in last two sessions. 176.89 million shares changed hands — a 17.9 percent drop from the day before.

The sectors closed mostly in green turf. Healthcare outshone the rest with 2.90 percent gain whereas consumer services shed 0.44 pct, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, financial services dominated with 42.9 pct market share and real estate stood next with 26.6 percent. Consumer services was a distant third with 5.35 pct contribution.

Among the notable movers, Kuwait Food Co (Americana) extended its strong winning spree with 100 fils jump to KD 2.420 while Kuwait Portland Cement climbed 20 fils to KD 1.040. Mabanee Co rose 10 fils to KD 0.870 trimming the month’s losses to 20 fils.

Telecom heavyweight Zain was unchanged at KD 0.375 after trading 2.17 million shares whereas Wataniya Telecom (Ooredoo) swung 40 fils higher. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) rose 10 fils to KD 0.980 and logistics major Agility gave up 5 fils to wind up at KD 0.455.

Investment conglomerate KIPCO was flat at KD 0.560 after trading 1.2 million shares while National Investments Company added 3 fils. The company has incurred a net loss of KD 5.57 million and losses per share of 7 fils in the year 2015 as against net profit of KD 6.67 mln and earnings per share 8 fils in the same period last year.

The market opened flat and moved sideways in early trade. The price index slipped slightly into red to hit the day’s lowest level of 5255.43 pts amid moderate bout of selling in select counters. It however clawed back in the final minutes to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, Metal and Recycling Co climbed 8.77pct to 62 fils while Safwan Trading Co rose 8.62 percent to stand close behind. Marakez slid 7.94 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Sokouk Holding topped the volume with 11.7 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s upswing, the market spread was skewed towards the winners. 56 stocks advanced whereas 30 closed lower. Of the 133 counters active on Tuesday, 47 closed flat. 3854 deals worth KD 12.14 million were transacted — a 15.8 pct drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was flat at 118 fils and RISCO too did not budge from its earlier close of 320 fils. Gulf Cable climbed 10 fils to KD 0.360 whereas ACICO Industries slipped 5 fils to 420 fils.

Jazeera Airways was unchanged at KD 0.840 and ALAFCO followed suit. The company has posted net profit of KD 3.01 million and earnings per share of 3.68 fils in the first quarter ended on 31 December 2015 as compared to net profit of KD 4.32 million and earnings per share of 5.28 fils in the same period last year.

Arab Times