Kuwait stocks bounce 48.49 pts; volume up

19/03/2014 07:52 AST

Kuwait stocks rebounded Tuesday, stemming the 4-day decline. The bourse, after a weak start, rose 48.49 pts in a broad rally to close at 7,457.87 points. The banks and other heavyweights led the day’s advance on bargain buying. The KSX 15 benchmark surged 11.09 points to 1,112.02 points taking the year’s gain to 60 points while weighted index rose 3.35 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile swelled past the 200 million mark for the first time in seven sessions. 246.34 million shares changed hands — a 28 percent jump from the day before. The sectors closed mostly in the green. Parallel market outshone the peers with 1.14 percent upswing whereas technology shed 0.52 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, financial services chalked the highest market share of 40.54 pct while real estate came next with 23.42 percent contribution.

Among notable movers, Kuwait National Cinema rose 30 fils to KD 0.900 while Combined Group and United Projects Group climbed 20 fils each. Gulf Cable gained 10 fils and National Industries Group took in 2 fils to settle at KD 0.228. Kuwait Hotels rose 10 fils and Jazeera Airways followed suit to wind up at KD 0.465. The company has posted a net profit KD 16.67 million and earnings per share of 39.70 fils in the year 2013 and the Board of Directors has recommended a cash dividend of 15 percent Telecom major Zain climbed 10 fils on back of 5.57 million shares taking whereas Wataniya Telecom held the ground unchanged at KD 1.830. 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%. Agility gained 20 fils after trading over 1 million shares.

Lower

The market opened weak and inched slightly lower in early trading. The bourse hit the day’s lowest level of 7,404.09 points and revved amid buying in select counters. It continued to head north and peaked at 74,59.41 points in final minutes before closing with robust gains. Top gainer of the day, Futurekid spiked 9.26 pct to KD 0.118 while Kuwait Hotels climbed 8.47 percent to stand next. Gulf Finance Co dropped 8.47 per, the steepest decliner of the day and the counter also topped in volume with over 29 million shares changing hands. Mirroring the day’s upswing, the market was skewed towards the winners. 75 stocks advanced whereas 25 closed lower. Of the 147 counters active on Tuesday 47 closed flat. 5,085 deals worth KD 33.23 million were transacted — a 69.21 percent surge from the previous day.

Among other gainers, KGL Logistics took in 2 fils and Burgan Well Drilling was up by same measure. The firm has recorded a net profit of KD 1.89 million in the 9-month period ending Dec 31, 2013 as compared to KD 1,89 million profit and earnings per share of 9.04 fils in 9M of 2012. Mabanee Co rallied 20 fils while Al-Mazaya Holding was up 2 fils. The company has logged a net profit of over KD 6 million and earnings per share of 10.27 fils in the year 2013 surging from KD 290,553 million profit and earnings per share of 0.50 fils during last year. The Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of 6% bonus shares.

On the downside, Safwan Trading and Contracting Co shed 20 fils and Automated Systems Co was down 15 fils at KD 0.475. Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co dipped 20 fils while Kuwait Foundry Co and ACICO Industries Co fell 10 fils each. United Industries Co and Equipment Holding Co took in 2 fils each whereas Kuwait Portland Cement and Kuwait Cement Co were unchanged at KD 1.360 and KD 0.380 respectively. NICBM too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.202. Kuwait Gulf Links inched 1 fils up. In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait was unchanged at KD 0.950 off early lows and the counter saw over 3 million shares change hands while Gulf Bank gave up 5 fils to close at KD 0.350.

Gained

Al Ahli Bank and Kuwait International Bank rose 5 fils each and Commercial Bank of

Arab Times