Agility Gains 20 Fils; Jazeera Airways Slips

KUWAIT CITY, May 7

Kuwait stocks picked up momentum on Tuesday following a tame end in the previous session.  The bourse, after a wobbly start, rallied 57.71 points to wind up at 7,774.05 pts, the highest level since first week of October 2009. The trading floor has been bullish in the recent week has closed higher in last 13 sessions.  The KSX 15 benchmark climbed 8.45 pts to a new high of 1,091.56 points and has gained over 11 pts from start of the month while weighted index rose 2.79 pts to settle at 463.82 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile receded from the multi-month high reached on Monday but still managed to hold above the 1,000 million mark for the third day in a row. 1,002. 29 million shares changed hands -- down 12.69 percent from Monday.

The sectors closed mostly in the positive territory. Basic materials outperformed the peers with 1.80 percent rally whereas healthcare dropped 1.53 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, financial services topped with 42.87 percent market share and real estate followed by financial services with 31.10 percent. Kuwait Foundry Co soared 25 fils on back of 1.16 million shares and Kuwait Packing Materials Manufacturing Co followed suit to end at KD 0.325. National Consumer Holding Co rose 20 fils and United Industries Co was up 6 fils at KD 0.124. Contracting and Marine Services Co climbed 10 fils with thin volume and National Industries Co added 5 fils. ACICO Industries Co gained 15 fils with a volume of over 1 million shares and Kuwait Pipes edged 2 fils up. The company has incurred a net loss of KD 6.93 million and loss per share of 31 fils in the January-March period.

Recouped
Bourse heavyweight Zain rose 10 fils to KD 0.750 partly recouping the loss in the previous session and Wataniya Telecom gained 20 fils. Agility too rose 20 fils with a volume of 1.55 million shares. The market opened weak and slipped into a trough in early trading. The index bottomed at 7,698.49 pts and bounced back amid spurt in buying in select counters. It seesawed thereafter as sentiment turned cautious and ticked up in the final minutes to close with strong gains. Top gainer of the day, National Consumer Holding Company, spiked 17.86 percent to 132 fils while Gulf Franchising Holding Co climbed 10 percent to stand next. Qurain Holding Co slid 8.33 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Gulf Finance House topped the volume with 103.81 million shares.

Reflecting the day's upswing, the market spread was skewed towards the winners. 72 stocks advanced whereas 41 closed lower. Of the 151 counters active on Tuesday, 38 closed lower. 17,086 deals worth KD 91.61 million were transacted -- a 26.5 percent drop from the day before. On the downside, Yiaco Medicals slipped 20 fils while Jazeera Airways pulled 10 fils lower to KD 0.500. The airline has registered a net profit of KD 3.57 million and earnings per share of 8.52 fils in the three-month period ending March 2013. Kuwait Cement Co tumbled 25 fils.  Aref Energy fell 6 fils to KD 0.126 and Burgan Well Drilling Co was down 4 fils at KD 0.176. RISCO eased 4 fils. The company has earned KD 556,018 in the first quarter of 2013 while earnings per share stood at 6.3 fils. This compares with net profit of KD 373,896 and earnings per share of 4.3 fils in the same period last year.

Independent Petroleum Group slipped 10 fils to KD 0.350 and Hilal Cement shaved off 4 fils. Equipment Holding dived 25 fils. The company has recorded a profit of KD 2.52 million and earnings per share 18.49 fils in the January-March quarter. Human Soft dropped 10 fils to KD 0.238 and KGL flunked 2 fils.
Gulf Cables was unchanged at KD 1.140 off early low and National Industries Group too did not budge from the previous close of KD 0.246 after vacillating in tight range. Combined Group Contracting Co paused at KD 1.400 and ALAFCO followed suit to end at KD 0.325. Kuwait Portland Cement pared early losses to close flat at KD 1.160. 

Steady
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait was steady at KD 0.970 with a volume of 4.5 million shares whereas Gulf Bank added 5 fils to end at KD 0.400. Commercial Bank was flat at KD 0.700. The bank has clocked KD 800,000 net profit in the January-March quarter rising sharply from KD 300,000 in the same period a year ago. Al Ahli Bank held the ground unchanged at KD 0.540 whereas Ahli United Bank fell 10 fils, erasing the gain on Monday. Kuwait International Bank stagnated at KD 0.310 and Burgan Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.590.

Boubyan Bank paused at KD 0.630 trimming early session gains whereas Kuwait Finance House added 10 fils on back of 2.82 million shares. The lender has won the Central Bank of Kuwait's approval to buy back or sell up to 10% of own issued shares over a period of 6 months. Banks represent more than 50 percent of Kuwait's market cap. The recent rise in the stock market has helped them because they have extended loans backed by stocks as collateral, Reuters quoted Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage services at Global Investment House earlier in the week. National Investment Co flunked 2 fils while KIPCO held steady at KD 0.445. Securities Group Co took in 2 fils and Kuwait Financial Centre Co (Markaz) too was up by same measure. International Finance Co fell 3 fils whereas Osoul Investment Co rose 3 fils to close at 99 fils.

National Real Estate Co gained 4 fils on back of 2.57 million shares while Mabanee Co rallied 40 fils. United Real Estate Co took in 2 fils and Mazaya Holding was up 10 fils at KD 0.132.  The bourse has been upbeat so far during the week and has surged 180.21 points in last three sessions. The index has rallied 343.51 pts so far during the month and is trading 31 percent higher year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region. In the bourse related news, United Industries announced it has posted a net profit of KD 3.61 million and earnings per share of 8 fils in the first three months of 2013, rising from KD 2.64 million profit and 5.45 fils EPS in the same period last year.

Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co has posted net profit of KD 278,063 and earnings per share of 6.57 fils in the January-March period, falling from KD 586,602 profit and earnings per share 13.87 fils in the year before period.  Gulf Insurance announced it has earned KD 2.28 million and clocked earnings per share of 12.48 fils in the three-month period ending March 31, 2013. This compares with net profit of KD 2.24 million and earnings per share of 12.23 fils in the same period last year.

© Arab Times 2013