Kuwait bourse heads north; volume swells – KFH falls 10 fils;

KIPCO flat

22/12/2016 06:02 AST

Kuwait stocks headed north on Tuesday as it extended the gains to second straight session. The price index rose 10.562 points in volatile session to 5,667.75 points helped by speculative buying in select counters. The banks and other heavyweights mostly sagged even as the investors await fresh cues. The KSX 15 gauge dived 9.7 pts to 883.29 points trimming the month’s gains to 28 pts while weighted index was down 2.55 points. The volume turnover meanwhile saw a modest rise for the second day. 151.8 million shares change hands — a 5.82 percent rise from Monday. The sectors closed mostly in the green territory. Parallel market outshone the rest with 1.35 percent gain whereas banks shed 1 pct, the weakest performer of the day. In terms of volume, financial services mustered the highest market share of 55.4 percent while real estate trailed far behind with 17.3 pct contribution. In the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait dropped 10 fils to 650 fils after trading 1.8 million shares and Kuwait Finance House followed suit with a volume of over 2 million. Kuwait Food Co (Americana) shed 20 fils erasing Monday’s gains and Humansoft Holding soared 60 fils to KD 2.200. Zain fell 5 fils to 415 fils after trading 1.9 million shares extending an identical loss in the last session while Wataniya Telecom ( Ooredoo) stood pat at KD 1.120. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) gained 10 fils and logistics major Agility was down 10 fils at 610 fils. National Investment Co was unchanged at 99 fils after gyrating in a tight range and KIPCO followed suit to settle at 510 fils. The company has logged a net profit of KD 40.02 million and earnings per share of 24.62 fils in the January — Sept period. The market opened on a tame note and drifted listlessly in early trade. The main index rose sharply an hour into the session but retreated below the red thereafter to bottom at 5,646.85 points as sentiment turned negative. However it bounced back and closed with modest gains. Top gainer of the day, Masaken vaulted 9.4 pct to 58 fils and Remal climbed 9.26 percent to stand close behind. International Financial Advisors slid 4.6 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Salam topped the volume with 17.8 million shares. Mirroring the day’s uptick, the winners outnumbered the losers, 40 stocks advanced while 37 closed lower. Of the 129 counters active on Tuesday, 52 closed flat. 3,518 deals worth KD 11.39 mln were transacted — a 23.3 percent dip in value from the day before. National Industries Group eased 2 fils to 122 fils extending an identical fall in the last session while Gulf Cable gave up 5 fils to settle at 375 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co added 4 fils while Contracting and Marine Services Co was up 5 fils at 78 fils. Kuwait Portland Cement dipped 10 fils to KD 0.910 whereas Kuwait Foundry Co stood pat at 182 fils. Equipment Holding Co inched 0.5 fil lower whereas Al Kout Industries Co climbed 10 fils to 660 fils. Jazeera Airways was flat at 760 fils off slight early lows and ALAFCO took in 2 fils before settling at 246 fils. Al Qurain Petrochemical held ground at 226 fils while Automated System Co gave up 6 fils. Safat Energy paused at 34.5 fils. Kuwait Cinema Co stagnated at KD 1.060 and Alrai Media Group Co clipped 2 fils. Combined Group Co stalled at 600 fils and Gulf Glass Manufacturing Company followed suit. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co climbed 4 fils to 60 fils and KGL Logistics inched 1 fil higher on back of 3.5 million shares. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co was flat at 226 fils off slight early highs. Zimah Holding eased 0.5 fil to 42.5 fils and Mezzan Holding was down 10 fils at 930 fils. AWJ Holding dialed up 2 fils extending the marginal rise in the last session and Soor clipped 2 fils. In the banking sector, Gulf Bank fell 2 fils to 244 fils whereas Ahli United Bank and Kuwait International Bank were unchanged at 295 fils and 208 fils respectively. Comme

Arab Times