Kuwait Extends Rout, Ends Below 6000 Pts

25/08/2015 06:13 AST

Kuwait stocks plunged below the 6000 pts mark on Sunday extending the rout from last session. The bourse tanked 143.14 pts in a broad decline to 5909.49 pts tracking heavy sell-offs in global and regional markets over continuing oil drop and economic growth fears.

The KSX 15 benchmark tumbled 22.99 pts to 943.99 pts taking the month’s losses to 72 points while weighted index dipped 8.84 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank as investment sentiment remained markedly bearish. 160.68 million shares changed hands — a 16.19 pct drop from the last session.

The sectors all closed in the red barring technology which gained 0.75 pct even as consumer goods skidded 4.14 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, real estate mustered the highest market share of 42.92 percent while financial services and telecommunications trailed with 25.25 pct and 12.77 percent contributions respectively.

In the individual shares, Kuwait Food Co (Americana) sank 80 fils to 2.460 extending the steep losses in the last session while KIPCO was down 20 fils at KD 0.640 after trading over 1 million shares. Mabanee Co and Mezzan Holding dived 40 fils each and Tamdeen Investment Co pulled 25 fils lower.

Telecom major Zain dropped 15 fils and Wataniya Telecom (Oordeoo) tumbled 40 fils to KD 1.160 after stagnating on Thursday. Kuwait Telecommunication Co (VIVA) shed 20 fils and Agility dived 40 fils to KD 0.580 taking the month’s losses to 70 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait slipped 10 fils to KD 0.800 and Kuwait Finance House followed suit. The bank has logged a net profit of KD 62.3 million in the first half of 2015, a 14.1 percent increase from KD 54.6 million over the same period of the previous year.

The market opened high but fell sharply in early trade as sell-offs roiled the trading floor. The main index continued to drift south amid weak sentiment and plumbed the day’s lowest mark of 5,886.31 pts in the final minutes. It however slightly pared back the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Arabi Holding Group lunged 7.22 pct to 104 fils and ACICO Industries Co climbed 7 pct to stand next. Hilal Cement Co plunged 11.75 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Dar National Real Estate Co topped the volume with 24.76 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s tumble, the market spread was heavily skewed towards the losers. 18 stocks advanced whereas 112 stocks closed lower. Of the 142 counters active on Sunday, 12 closed flat. 4,321 deals worth KD 20.78 million were transacted — a marginal 1.37 pct fall in value from the day before.

National Industries Group, the flagship company of Kharafi Group dropped 10 fils after trading over 2 million shares while Kuwait Cement Co and Gulf Cable gave up 5 fils each to wind up at KD 0.360 and KD 0.480 respectively. Kuwait Portland Cement shed 20 fils whereas RISCO held steady at KD 0.380.

Slipped ALAFCO slipped 6 fils to KD 0.224 and Jazeera Airways Group was down 20 fils at KD 0.455. The company has posted a 27.1 pct year-on-year surge in H1 net profit to KD 6.2 million while second quarter net profit reached KD 3.2 million – an increase of 14.2% from the same period last year.

Shuaiba Industrial Co gave up 5 fils and City Group Company followed suit. The company has posted a net profit of KD 3.56 million and earnings per share of 31.51 fils in the January-June period of 2015 as against net profit of KD 2.85 million and earnings per share of 25.29 fils in the same period last year.

Kuwait Foundry Co fell 4 fils while HEISC retreated 8 fils to KD 0.128. Boubyan Petrochemicals Co dropped 20 fils and NAPESCO was down by same measure. Equipment Holding dialed down 3 fils while Qurain Petrochemical Industries Co closed 6 fils in red.

On the upside, Zima Holding rose 5 fils to 100 fils and Al-Nawadi Holding Co closed added 4 fils. The company has posted a profit

Arab Times