Kuwait index slips into red amid profit taking

13/09/2017 09:55 AST

Kuwait stocks headed south on Tuesday after closing flat in the last session. The main index dipped 21.05 pts in choppy trade to 6,905.98 points as investors locked profits across the sectors. The blue chips however remained mixed.

The KSX 15 measure fell 4.54 points to 1,020.49 pts paring the month’s gains to 36 points while weighted index gave up 2 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank after the three-day swell. Over 136 million shares changed hands – down 14.2 pct from the day the before.

Almost all sectors closed in red. Oil and gas dropped 1 pct, the worst performer of the day and banks followed with 0.82 pct drop. In terms of volume, banks topped with 34.32 pct market share and financials followed with 31.3 pct contribution.

Among the prominent fallers, Kuwait Finance House extended Monday’s losses with a 7 fils drop to 619 fils after trading over 12 million shares while Boubyan Bank was down 7 fils at 464 fils. KIPCO shed 9 fils and Gulf Insurance Co dived 24 fils to 875 fils.

Zain took in 2 fils with brisk trading while Ooredoo held ground at KD 1.250 following last session’s strong gains. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) clipped 2 fils and Agility was up 5 fils at 922 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait was flat at 785 fils off early lows and Kuwait International Bank too did not budge from ite previous close. The bank has posted a 37.1% year-on-year drop in second quarter profits to KD 3.32 million from same period in 2016.

The market opened firm but headed south in early trade. The main index traded sideways briefly and slipped deeper into red to plumb the day’s lowest level of 6843.44 pts ahead of the mid-session. It rebounded thereafter to claw back some of the its losses and traded flat before closing with moderate losses.

Top gainer of the day, Marakez leapt 13.53 pct to 49.5 fils and Noor Financial Investment Co rose 3.3 pct to stand next. Al Mudon slid 7.76 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the volume with over 17 million shares.

Reflecting the day’s downswing, the losers outnumbered the winners. 26 stocks advanced whereas 60 closed lower. Of the 124 counters active on Tuesday, 38 closed flat. 4,612 deals worth KD 34.73 million were transacted – a 6.9 pct drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group, the flagship company of the Kharafi Group was unchanged at 149 fils after trading over 5 million shares and Gulf Cable dialed down 2 fils. Shuaiba Industrial climbed 10 fils to 310 fils.

Kuwait Food Co (Americana) paused at KD 2.000 after last session’s solid gains while Kuwait Foundry Co took in 2 fils. Equipment Holding eased 0.5 fil and Kuwait National Cinema Co stood pat at KD 1.350.

Jazeera Airways was unchanged at 600 fils and ALAFCO dipped 11 fils. The company’s earnings surged 49 pct to KD 5.78 million in third quarter ended 30 June, 2017 from same period last year.

Paused
NICBM paused at 198 fils and Educational Holding Group gave up 3 fils. The company has posted a 13 pct drop in profits in the quarter ended May 31, 2017. The profits totaled KD 1.14 million as against KD 1.31 million in the same period last year.

Napesco slid 17 fils to 822 fils and Humansoft Holding was down 9 fils at KD 3.894. Burgan Well Drilling Co fell 3 fils to 80 fils and Combined Group Contracting Co was up 3 fils at 548 fils. Eyas For Technical and Higher Education was flat at 800 fils.

Mezzan Holding Co stalled at 860 fils and Al Rai Media Group followed suit. Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co stagnated at 58.5 fils and KGL Logistics Co eased 0.5 fil.

In the banking sector, Gulf Bank and Al Ahli Bank were unchanged at 238 fils and 309 fils respectively whereas Commercial Bank ticked 1 fil higher.

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Arab Times