Kuwait sheds 21.31 pts as profit taking kicks in

11/02/2014 12:21 AST

Kuwait stocks pulled lower Monday, snapping the 2-day gain. The index shed 21.31 pts in choppy trade to settle at 7841.69 pts as investors booked profit in select counters. Most of the banks shined whereas other blue chips were mostly subdued. The KSX 15 gauge climbed 6.39 pts to end at 1094.76 points taking the year’s gains to 41 pts while weighted index edged 0.98 points higher. The volume meanwhile eased for the fourth straight session to hit a fresh month’s low. 223.56 million shares changed hands — a 22.69 pct drop from the day before. The sectors closed mixed. Insurance outpaced the rest with 1.35 percent advance whereas financial services shed 0.69 percent, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, real estate garnered thee highest market share of 36.82 pct and financial services came in next with 28.33 percent. Industrials was a distant third with 11.78 pct contribution.

Among notable movers, United Projects Group dived 50 fils while Combined Group Contracting Co shed 20 fils. Burgan Well Drilling Co slipped 10 fils and Kuwait Gypsum Manufacturing and Trading Co was down 10 fils at KD 0.170. Salhia Real Estate Co gave up 20 fils to close at KD 0.375. IFA Hotels and Resorts fell 5 fils and ALAFCO was down by same measure. Al Rai Media Group Co gave 6 fils to wind up at KD 0.156 and KGL Logistic clipped 2 fils. Contracting and Marine Services was down 4 fils at KD 0.178. Qurain Petrochemical ticked 2 fils lower to KD 0.228. Among the heavyweights, Zain held the ground unchanged at KD 0.680 while Wataniya Telecom extended the loss in the day before with a 40 fils drop. Zain has earned KD 216.44 million and chalked an earnings per share of 56 fils in 2013 and the Board of Directors has recommended a cash dividend of 50 %.

Modest
Agility however was flat at KD 0.650 after eking modest gains in the day before and Kuwait Gulf Links pulled up from early lows to close steady at 0.650. The market opened weak and slipped into a shallow trough in early trade. The index seesawed almost half way into the session and drifted lower as sentiment turned weak. It hit the day’s lowest mark of 7,828.03 pts before clawing back some of the losses at close. Top gainer of the day, Wethaq Takaful Insurance Co rallied 7.69 pct to 70 fils while Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co climbed over 6 pct to stand next. United Projects Group slid 6.41 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Investors Holding Group topped the volume with 19.84 million shares. Mirroring the day’s decline the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 41 stocks advanced whereas 61 closed lower. Of the 147 counters active on Monday, 45 closed flat. 5112 deals worth KD 27.27 million were transacted — a 14.46 pct fall in value from the day before.

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Arab Times