03 October 2010
KUWAIT: With the conclusion of the third quarter, the market got boosted by a new huge deal tended to be almost confirmed before the end of the week. The offer to buy the 46 percent stake of Al-Kharafi Group in Zain at a premium of around 35 percent caused an increase in almost all the Group's related listed equities. This added to the week's higher performance.
Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended the week up by 3.18 percent at 215.48 point, it's highest closing since October 22, 2009, as measured by Global's weighted General Index. The month of September was cheerful after achieving an increase of 6.88 percent, the highest monthly gain since last February. With this gain the market managed to concluded its third month on higher note. On a year-to-date basis, the market gains reached 15.71 percent. On the other hand, Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) price index was up by 144.90 points (2.12 percent) and closed the week at 6,985 points. Total market capitalization escalated to KD34.70bn. Market breadth skewed towards advancers with 82 stocks advancing against 51 declining out of 163 shares traded this week.
Trading activity was higher with trading seen more on the blue-chip equities. Volume traded slightly rose by 3.05 percent reaching 1.47bn shares changing hands at a total traded value of KD329.02mn (41.97 percent increase compared to the week before). The trading volume was high on the Investment Sector, which accounted for 26.25 percent (387.14mn shares) of the total market traded volume. The Services sector came second accounting for 23.26 percent of the weekly volume traded.
On the value side, the Banking Sector saw the most value traded with KD107.40mn exchanged, accounting for 32.64 percent of the total market traded value. The Services sector came second on this list as well with KD89.96mn traded, accounting for 27.34 percent of the total market value traded. The real estate sector was the only loser this week, shedding 0.49 percent of its value, as measured by Global Real Estate Sector Index.
The drop came after losers overweight gainers in the sector. The same sector saw its Investors Holding Group Company coming on top of the volume traded list for the week with 123.20mn shares changing hands. On the other hand, all other sectors managed to achieve higher closing for the week. Global Food Sector Index was the biggest gainer, adding 8.44 percent with only one advancer in the sector. Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana) added 12 percent to its share price.
The other generated gains affecting the market was the 4.48 percent and 3.81 percent increase in the Industrial and the Services sectors, respectively. Zain was a main mover of the services sector and the market as well, being the largest listed company in market capitalization. The script was the highest value traded this week with KD54.94mn exchanged and added 4.62 percent to its price by the end of the last trading session.
The Investment sector was also up by 2.70 percent. Al-Mal Investment Company led the gainers list with 34.21 percent increase in its share price, while on the other side, National International Company (Holding) topped the losers list, shedding 15.15 percent of its share value. Global's special indices closed on positive note except for Global Small Cap (Low 10) Index which ended the week down by 0.81 percent. Global High Yield Index was up by 3.86 percent, Global Large Cap (Top 10) index added 3.42 percent to its value and Global Islamic Sharia Index was up by 1.38 percent.
Macroeconomic News: Kuwait inflation rose to a 13-month high of 4.0 percent year-on-year in July, driven by rises in food and global commodities prices. Inflation in the world's fourth largest oil exporter is expected to decelerate again towards the end of the year as economies in the Gulf Arab region start to recover from the global financial downturn. On the month, consumer prices in the OPEC member picked up 0.6 percent following a 0.5 percent rise the previous month, figures from the Central Statistical Office showed.
Food prices, which account for 18 percent of the basket, jumped by 3.1 percent in July, following a 0.1 percent rise in the previous month. Housing prices, which have the largest weight of 27 percent in the overall basket, dropped 0.1 percent month on month after rising by 1.3 percent in June. Transport price growth, the third biggest component, remained flat at 0.4 percent month-on-month. Central Bank Governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al-Sabah said that inflation pressures in the Gulf Arab oil producing region had decreased significantly.
Governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al-Sabah said that inflation is a main concern for Kuwait's central bank, while the Gulf oil exporter's economy is expected to grow strongly this year. After a meeting of the Gulf Arab central bank governors in Kuwait this week Sheikh Salem said that inflation is a main concern at the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) and that despite the decline compared to 2008 and the end of 2009, there is a kind of a noticed trend, mainly due to the increase in the prices of food worldwide.
He believed that inflation will rise a little bit toward the end of this year, to about a level of 4-4.5 percent. On the economy side said that according to the existing information, Kuwait's GDP for the year 2010 will be positive and growth will be from 4 to 5 percent.
Consumer confidence appears to still be stable in Kuwait, following the drop in consumer confidence felt at the end of last year, according to the latest Consumer Confidence Index (CCI). The CCI, a quarterly survey conducted by the Middle East's number one job site Bayt.com in conjunction with research specialists YouGov Siraj, found Kuwait increased by a n impressive 6.3 points since last June. The CCI is a measure of consumer expectations and satisfaction of various elements of the economy including inflation, job opportunities and the cost of living.
Oil-related news: Equate Petrochemical Company, a joint venture between Kuwait-owned Petrochemical Industries Company and US Dow Chemical Company, said this week that it has signed a deal with US-based Aquatech International to build a water recycling plant, part of a company environmental project valued at over $11mn. Equate said in a statement the plant will reduce the company's water consumption and cut on carbon emission associated with purifying water. It did not disclose the value of the contract.
The price of Kuwaiti crude oil dipped $1.31 per barrel to settle at $72.64 on Tuesday, September 28, compared with a week earlier on Tuesday's, September 21, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said. The drop in Kuwaiti oil prices comes in spite of the depreciation of the US dollar versus other key currencies due to expectations of data on the US economy and rising US oil reserves. However, Kuwait's current oil prices are still the highest within the OPEC target of $70-$80 per barrel.
OPEC will not change its output quota at its next meeting on October 14 in Vienna, Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said on arriving there for trip expected to last several days. "No increase, no change, we will keep the quota as it is," he said when asked what the likely outcome of the meeting will be.
Kuwait is willing to consider raising long-term crude supplies to India, but wants to use its own vessels for such supplies, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said."India should look into using our ships in taking oil from Kuwait," Sheikh Ahmad said, adding that Kuwait would look into India's request for enhanced long-term supplies." Whenever we have negotiations, it is give and take," he said in response to a question on whether Kuwait would boost supplies only if India used Kuwaiti vessels.
Other local news: The Central Tender Committee (CTC) will decide the fate of six pending projects to be executed on behalf of the Ministry of Water and Electricity (MEW), officials said. They said that one of the projects concerns maintenance of eight main transformers located at Al-Funaitees and Abu Fataira, in addition to the project to reduce pollution that is caused by fuel burning at power stations. The committee spelt out its views on tenders through its representative, to the ministry. However, a fi
nal decision was postponed until the next meeting is held.
A Saudi-Kuwaiti joined venture (JV) has extended to October 11 the bidding for the construction of gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) distribution facilities at Khafji oilfield, the company said. Al-Khafji Joint Operations Company (KJO) said that the deadline was extended to October 11 from September 27.
Kuwait Stock Exchange: Emirates Telecommunications Corp's (Etisalat) made a "preliminary conditional offer to buy a 46 percent stake of the free float share in Zain. Etisalat wants to acquire 46 percent of the free float, which would amount to a majority, given Zain holds 10 percent of its stock in treasury. The total cost might be roughly KD25.6bn ($11.8bn) at the mooted price of KD1.700 per share, a reasonable premium of 35 percent to Zain's last closing price on September 29. Nasser Al-Kharafi, head of the Kharafi Group said in remarks to local media that Etisalat offer to buy the Kharafi Group's stake in Zain is suitable and good for both parties.
Global Investment House has been ranked among the leading international investment banks providing financial advisory services for mergers & acquisitions (M&A) in two separate reports issued by Thomson Reuters and Merger Market, based on the M&A deals the world has witnessed during the first six months of 2010. Global was ranked 4th on the Thomson Reuters list of companies that played the role of financial advisors in M&A deals completed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the first half of 2010.
It also earned the 17th position among the international investment banks that were advisors for M&A deals completed in the Europe, Asia and the Middle East region (EMEA), and the 15th position for deals completed in emerging markets. The report published by Merger Market listed Global in the 6th position for the deals announced during the first half of 2010. Furthermore, Bharti Airtel's acquisition of Zain's assets in Africa, excluding Morocco and Sudan, for $10.7bn, in which Global was the regional financial advisor for Bharti, was ranked as the largest M&A deal in the MENA region and the 8th worldwide during the period.
Kuwait Financing & Investment Company (KFIC) asked to drop its name from the listed companies in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM). The decision of cancellation will be executed next Tuesday, October 5, 2010 upon which the shares of the company will be transferred from DFM to Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE).
Shareholders of Kuwait's International Investment Group (IIG) voted on Wednesday, September 29th to cut the troubled company's capital by more than half to cover its losses. The Islamic investment house said that capital would be cut by 55.8 percent to KD20.2mn. Accumulated losses as of the end of 2009 were KD40.7mn, it said. IIG is one of the Kuwaiti investment houses badly hit during the financial crisis. In July, it was unable to make a $152.5mn Islamic bond payment.
The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) rejected the request submitted by Noor Financial Investment Company to extend the period for repurchasing 10 percent maximum of its issued shares. The company has the right to sell outstanding shares for six months ending March 28, 2011. The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has turned down the request submitted by Gulf Investment House (GIH) to repurchase 10 percent maximum of its issued shares. The Kuwait-listed company can only sell outstanding shares for six months ending on March 17, 2011.
HAYAT Communications Company has signed two contracts worth $5.60mn with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to provide certain services for Kuwait Telecom Company (VIVA) as follows: Under the first $1.76mn worth of contract, Hayat would supply and install power generators over four months. While under the second $3.84mn worth of contract, the company would expand infrastructure works over nine months.
The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has approved the request submitted by Gulf Bank to repurchase or sell 10 percent maximum of its issued shares for further 6 months, as of the current approval expiry on October 14, 2010. The bank should abide by Highlights of the week A meeting held by a committee of central banks' governors has approved recommendations to guarantee financial stability of a unified currency and the compatibility of this system for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The committee has unanimously agreed on several major facts including that the unified monitoring and supervision controls ought not to be mandatory to financial institutions which are currently or later to be supervised by financial centers. Also these financial centers should not have any representatives within the supervising committees across all GCC countries.
After discussing a draft of monitoring and supervisory legislations that should be unified, the committee apprehended differences between member countries regarding the issue of dealing with financial centers and the central supervisory authority. The CBK's buyback rules and regulations, in addition to the provisions of Article No. 115 bis of Corporate Law. Warba Insurance Company has purchased 5.895% or 16,50mn shares of Al-Ghazal Logistics at 190fils each, totaling KD3.14mn to settle some debts to Bukhamseen Holding. Accordingly, the deal it will boost Warba's assets and reduce liabilities.
KUWAIT: With the conclusion of the third quarter, the market got boosted by a new huge deal tended to be almost confirmed before the end of the week. The offer to buy the 46 percent stake of Al-Kharafi Group in Zain at a premium of around 35 percent caused an increase in almost all the Group's related listed equities. This added to the week's higher performance.
Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) ended the week up by 3.18 percent at 215.48 point, it's highest closing since October 22, 2009, as measured by Global's weighted General Index. The month of September was cheerful after achieving an increase of 6.88 percent, the highest monthly gain since last February. With this gain the market managed to concluded its third month on higher note. On a year-to-date basis, the market gains reached 15.71 percent. On the other hand, Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) price index was up by 144.90 points (2.12 percent) and closed the week at 6,985 points. Total market capitalization escalated to KD34.70bn. Market breadth skewed towards advancers with 82 stocks advancing against 51 declining out of 163 shares traded this week.
Trading activity was higher with trading seen more on the blue-chip equities. Volume traded slightly rose by 3.05 percent reaching 1.47bn shares changing hands at a total traded value of KD329.02mn (41.97 percent increase compared to the week before). The trading volume was high on the Investment Sector, which accounted for 26.25 percent (387.14mn shares) of the total market traded volume. The Services sector came second accounting for 23.26 percent of the weekly volume traded.
On the value side, the Banking Sector saw the most value traded with KD107.40mn exchanged, accounting for 32.64 percent of the total market traded value. The Services sector came second on this list as well with KD89.96mn traded, accounting for 27.34 percent of the total market value traded. The real estate sector was the only loser this week, shedding 0.49 percent of its value, as measured by Global Real Estate Sector Index.
The drop came after losers overweight gainers in the sector. The same sector saw its Investors Holding Group Company coming on top of the volume traded list for the week with 123.20mn shares changing hands. On the other hand, all other sectors managed to achieve higher closing for the week. Global Food Sector Index was the biggest gainer, adding 8.44 percent with only one advancer in the sector. Kuwait Foodstuff Company (Americana) added 12 percent to its share price.
The other generated gains affecting the market was the 4.48 percent and 3.81 percent increase in the Industrial and the Services sectors, respectively. Zain was a main mover of the services sector and the market as well, being the largest listed company in market capitalization. The script was the highest value traded this week with KD54.94mn exchanged and added 4.62 percent to its price by the end of the last trading session.
The Investment sector was also up by 2.70 percent. Al-Mal Investment Company led the gainers list with 34.21 percent increase in its share price, while on the other side, National International Company (Holding) topped the losers list, shedding 15.15 percent of its share value. Global's special indices closed on positive note except for Global Small Cap (Low 10) Index which ended the week down by 0.81 percent. Global High Yield Index was up by 3.86 percent, Global Large Cap (Top 10) index added 3.42 percent to its value and Global Islamic Sharia Index was up by 1.38 percent.
Macroeconomic News: Kuwait inflation rose to a 13-month high of 4.0 percent year-on-year in July, driven by rises in food and global commodities prices. Inflation in the world's fourth largest oil exporter is expected to decelerate again towards the end of the year as economies in the Gulf Arab region start to recover from the global financial downturn. On the month, consumer prices in the OPEC member picked up 0.6 percent following a 0.5 percent rise the previous month, figures from the Central Statistical Office showed.
Food prices, which account for 18 percent of the basket, jumped by 3.1 percent in July, following a 0.1 percent rise in the previous month. Housing prices, which have the largest weight of 27 percent in the overall basket, dropped 0.1 percent month on month after rising by 1.3 percent in June. Transport price growth, the third biggest component, remained flat at 0.4 percent month-on-month. Central Bank Governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al-Sabah said that inflation pressures in the Gulf Arab oil producing region had decreased significantly.
Governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al-Sabah said that inflation is a main concern for Kuwait's central bank, while the Gulf oil exporter's economy is expected to grow strongly this year. After a meeting of the Gulf Arab central bank governors in Kuwait this week Sheikh Salem said that inflation is a main concern at the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) and that despite the decline compared to 2008 and the end of 2009, there is a kind of a noticed trend, mainly due to the increase in the prices of food worldwide.
He believed that inflation will rise a little bit toward the end of this year, to about a level of 4-4.5 percent. On the economy side said that according to the existing information, Kuwait's GDP for the year 2010 will be positive and growth will be from 4 to 5 percent.
Consumer confidence appears to still be stable in Kuwait, following the drop in consumer confidence felt at the end of last year, according to the latest Consumer Confidence Index (CCI). The CCI, a quarterly survey conducted by the Middle East's number one job site Bayt.com in conjunction with research specialists YouGov Siraj, found Kuwait increased by a n impressive 6.3 points since last June. The CCI is a measure of consumer expectations and satisfaction of various elements of the economy including inflation, job opportunities and the cost of living.
Oil-related news: Equate Petrochemical Company, a joint venture between Kuwait-owned Petrochemical Industries Company and US Dow Chemical Company, said this week that it has signed a deal with US-based Aquatech International to build a water recycling plant, part of a company environmental project valued at over $11mn. Equate said in a statement the plant will reduce the company's water consumption and cut on carbon emission associated with purifying water. It did not disclose the value of the contract.
The price of Kuwaiti crude oil dipped $1.31 per barrel to settle at $72.64 on Tuesday, September 28, compared with a week earlier on Tuesday's, September 21, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said. The drop in Kuwaiti oil prices comes in spite of the depreciation of the US dollar versus other key currencies due to expectations of data on the US economy and rising US oil reserves. However, Kuwait's current oil prices are still the highest within the OPEC target of $70-$80 per barrel.
OPEC will not change its output quota at its next meeting on October 14 in Vienna, Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said on arriving there for trip expected to last several days. "No increase, no change, we will keep the quota as it is," he said when asked what the likely outcome of the meeting will be.
Kuwait is willing to consider raising long-term crude supplies to India, but wants to use its own vessels for such supplies, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said."India should look into using our ships in taking oil from Kuwait," Sheikh Ahmad said, adding that Kuwait would look into India's request for enhanced long-term supplies." Whenever we have negotiations, it is give and take," he said in response to a question on whether Kuwait would boost supplies only if India used Kuwaiti vessels.
Other local news: The Central Tender Committee (CTC) will decide the fate of six pending projects to be executed on behalf of the Ministry of Water and Electricity (MEW), officials said. They said that one of the projects concerns maintenance of eight main transformers located at Al-Funaitees and Abu Fataira, in addition to the project to reduce pollution that is caused by fuel burning at power stations. The committee spelt out its views on tenders through its representative, to the ministry. However, a fi
nal decision was postponed until the next meeting is held.
A Saudi-Kuwaiti joined venture (JV) has extended to October 11 the bidding for the construction of gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) distribution facilities at Khafji oilfield, the company said. Al-Khafji Joint Operations Company (KJO) said that the deadline was extended to October 11 from September 27.
Kuwait Stock Exchange: Emirates Telecommunications Corp's (Etisalat) made a "preliminary conditional offer to buy a 46 percent stake of the free float share in Zain. Etisalat wants to acquire 46 percent of the free float, which would amount to a majority, given Zain holds 10 percent of its stock in treasury. The total cost might be roughly KD25.6bn ($11.8bn) at the mooted price of KD1.700 per share, a reasonable premium of 35 percent to Zain's last closing price on September 29. Nasser Al-Kharafi, head of the Kharafi Group said in remarks to local media that Etisalat offer to buy the Kharafi Group's stake in Zain is suitable and good for both parties.
Global Investment House has been ranked among the leading international investment banks providing financial advisory services for mergers & acquisitions (M&A) in two separate reports issued by Thomson Reuters and Merger Market, based on the M&A deals the world has witnessed during the first six months of 2010. Global was ranked 4th on the Thomson Reuters list of companies that played the role of financial advisors in M&A deals completed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the first half of 2010.
It also earned the 17th position among the international investment banks that were advisors for M&A deals completed in the Europe, Asia and the Middle East region (EMEA), and the 15th position for deals completed in emerging markets. The report published by Merger Market listed Global in the 6th position for the deals announced during the first half of 2010. Furthermore, Bharti Airtel's acquisition of Zain's assets in Africa, excluding Morocco and Sudan, for $10.7bn, in which Global was the regional financial advisor for Bharti, was ranked as the largest M&A deal in the MENA region and the 8th worldwide during the period.
Kuwait Financing & Investment Company (KFIC) asked to drop its name from the listed companies in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM). The decision of cancellation will be executed next Tuesday, October 5, 2010 upon which the shares of the company will be transferred from DFM to Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE).
Shareholders of Kuwait's International Investment Group (IIG) voted on Wednesday, September 29th to cut the troubled company's capital by more than half to cover its losses. The Islamic investment house said that capital would be cut by 55.8 percent to KD20.2mn. Accumulated losses as of the end of 2009 were KD40.7mn, it said. IIG is one of the Kuwaiti investment houses badly hit during the financial crisis. In July, it was unable to make a $152.5mn Islamic bond payment.
The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) rejected the request submitted by Noor Financial Investment Company to extend the period for repurchasing 10 percent maximum of its issued shares. The company has the right to sell outstanding shares for six months ending March 28, 2011. The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has turned down the request submitted by Gulf Investment House (GIH) to repurchase 10 percent maximum of its issued shares. The Kuwait-listed company can only sell outstanding shares for six months ending on March 17, 2011.
HAYAT Communications Company has signed two contracts worth $5.60mn with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to provide certain services for Kuwait Telecom Company (VIVA) as follows: Under the first $1.76mn worth of contract, Hayat would supply and install power generators over four months. While under the second $3.84mn worth of contract, the company would expand infrastructure works over nine months.
The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has approved the request submitted by Gulf Bank to repurchase or sell 10 percent maximum of its issued shares for further 6 months, as of the current approval expiry on October 14, 2010. The bank should abide by Highlights of the week A meeting held by a committee of central banks' governors has approved recommendations to guarantee financial stability of a unified currency and the compatibility of this system for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The committee has unanimously agreed on several major facts including that the unified monitoring and supervision controls ought not to be mandatory to financial institutions which are currently or later to be supervised by financial centers. Also these financial centers should not have any representatives within the supervising committees across all GCC countries.
After discussing a draft of monitoring and supervisory legislations that should be unified, the committee apprehended differences between member countries regarding the issue of dealing with financial centers and the central supervisory authority. The CBK's buyback rules and regulations, in addition to the provisions of Article No. 115 bis of Corporate Law. Warba Insurance Company has purchased 5.895% or 16,50mn shares of Al-Ghazal Logistics at 190fils each, totaling KD3.14mn to settle some debts to Bukhamseen Holding. Accordingly, the deal it will boost Warba's assets and reduce liabilities.
© Kuwait Times 2010
