Kuwait bourse indices wind up in positive zone on Q3 earnings

25/10/2015 05:41 AST

The KSE indices closed in positive as the market witnessed quarterly earnings announce-ments. The KSE Index closed at 5,780.76 up 49.50 points as the index reported gains at the beginning of the week, the first three trading sessions recorded 73.66 points.

However, towards the end of the week the market shed 24.16 points. The market blue chips remained mixed in anticipation of earning announcements which is evident from the KSX-15 up 5.52 points to close at 929.95. The MUDX was up by 1.32% the top performer among the indices largely due to its constituents like Boubyan Bank reporting earnings.

The Weekly volumes stood at 750.16 million shares compared to 381.04 million shares in previous week an increase of 96.8%, the sharp increase was due to a shorter trading previous week. Among the major contributors like Real Estate Sector (contributing 33.8%) reported 253.83 million shares of trading while Financial Services Sector (contributing 30.94%) witnessed 232.07 million shares of trading.

Sectors with notable volumes include the Industrials sector (contributing 14.55%), the sector reported 109.17 million shares of trading. Among the counters with notable volumes National Ranges Co. (Mcap ñ KWD 7.0 million) was the key driver, as the counter reported 31.45 million shares of trading which constitutes 28.8% of the total sector volumes. We believe a persisting lawsuit of the company with its banker is due for a hearing in the coming week, which has resulted in a surge in volumes.

The overall Market Cap was down marginally by 0.7% as it stood at KWD 26.63 billion, as stated earlier the blue chips have been mixed in market cap gains as investors anticipate quarterly earnings announcements. National Bank of Kuwait ñ NBK (Mcap – KWD 4.13 billion) saw its market cap increase by 2.5%, while Mobile Telecommunications Co – Zain (Mcap – KWD 1.63 billion) saw its market cap decline by 2.90%.

On the total market breadth, Of the 57 Islamic Companies, 27 advanced while 16 declined during the week.

The Islamic universe market cap was up by 1.55% as it stood at KWD 6.92 billion, as universe banking sector gains resulted in growth in market cap. Kuwait Finance House ñ KFH (Mcap ñ KWD 2.66 billion) the Universe heavyweight was up 1.82% in market cap terms. Further, Boubyan Bank (Mcap ñ KWD 918.15 million) was up by 2.3% as the Islamic lender reported its quarterly earnings. The bank reported net income of KWD 25.15 million for the 9M period ending September 30, 2015 a growth of 24.12%.

Arab Times