Kuwait bourse heads south; volume shrinks – Commercial Bank drops 25

01/03/2017 05:42 AST

Kuwait stocks sagged on Monday as it kicked off the week after the national holidays. The price index, after a tame start, dropped 28.94 points to 6,780.84 pts amid a moderate round of profit taking led by some of the banking and financial shares. The overall mood was soggy in absence of fresh cues.

The KSX 15 gauge slipped 2.88 pts to 968.83 pts while weighted index gave up 2 points to settle at 425 points. The volume turnover shrank further to plumb month’s lowest level. 213.5 million shares changed hands — a 21.77 pct dip from Thursday.

The sectors closed mixed. Oil and gas outshone the rest with 2.58 pct gain whereas real estate shed 1.18 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, financial services notched the highest market share of 36,6 pct while real followed with 33.5 percent contribution.

Among notable losers, National Bank of Kuwait dipped 10 fils to 730 fils erasing lasts session’s gains while Commercial Bank dived 25 fils to 450 fils. National Investment Co gave up 4 fils ad Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) followed suit to wind up at 95 fils with thin trading.

Zain rose from early lows to close 5 fils higher at 485 fils and Wataniya Telecom (Ooredoo) climbed 20 fils. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) was unchanged at 860 fils and Agility was down 20 fils at 600 fils.

Kuwait Finance House held ground at 620 fils with a volume of over 1 million and Warba Bank followed suit. The bank has posted a profits of KD 1.7 million in Q4 while during the fiscal year 2016, net profit surged by 157.5 pct to KD 2.575 million.

The market opened on tame note and moved sideways in early trade. The main index headed south thereafter as sentiment turned sour and scaled the highest level of 6815.18 pts past the mid-session. It pared back some of the losses before closing with moderate losses.

Top gainer of the day, Amwal rallied 7.35 pct to 36.5 fils and Yiaco climbed 7.14 percent to stand next. Kuwait Cable Vision Co slid 8.33 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imitiaz topped the volume with over 16 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s downswing, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 35 stocks gained whereas 61 closed lower. Of the 139 counters active on Monday, 43 closed flat. 5,709 deals worth KD 23.8 million were transacted — a 14.8 pct drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group was unchanged at 150 fils off slight early lows with a volume of 1.2 million and Gulf Cable too did not budge from its earlier close of 560 fils. Kuwait National Cinema Co soared 60 fils to KD 1.480 with thin trading.

Kuwait Foundry Co and Boubyan Petrochemical Co stood pat at 330 fils and 580 fils respectively whereas Shuaiba Paper Industries Co shed 25 fils. Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co stagnated at 325 fils while Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co closed 10 fils in red.

Equipment Holding Co was flat at 62 fils and ACICO Industries Co rose 5 fils to 320 fils. Automated Systems Co paused at 320 fils and Humansoft Holding Co followed suit. Al Qurain Petrochemical Co fell 5 fils to 320 fils.

Kuwait Portland Cement Co held ground at KD 1.080 and NICBM followed suit. NAPESCO jumped 50 fils and Al Rai Media Group paused at 178 fils.

Gained

UPAC gained 20 fils while OSOS took in 2 fils before closing at 192 fils. Zimah Holding inched 1 fil into red and Mezzan Holding rose 10 fils to 990 fils. AWJ Holding was down 6 fils at 96 fils.

Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co was unchanged at 68 fils and KGL Logistics gave up 3 fils to wind up at 72 fils. Jazeera Airways was flat at 600 fils off early lows and ALAFCO too did not budge from its previous close of 255 fils.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank fell 2 fils to 246 fils and Kuwait International Bank followed suit. Burgan Bank rose 5 fils to 320 fils extending an identica

Arab Times