Wataniya Telecom Drops 40 Fils; NBK Gains

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 14

Kuwait stocks trod water Monday, snapping the 8-day gaining streak. The index edged 2.43 pts lower to 6,106.91 in volatile trade after hitting multi-month high on Sunday. 

Most of the heavyweights closed flat while some of the low and mid caps saw brisk trading . The bourse had climbed past the 6000 million mark on 2nd Jan driven mostly by speculative buying. 

The KSX 15 measure rose 2.11 pts to 1,038.24 pts while the weighted index was up 0.49 points at 429.26 pts. The volume turnover meanwhile, rose further after swelling past the 400 million mark in the previous session. 486.37 million shares changed hands -- a 6.10 pct increase from Sunday. 

The sector closed narrowly mixed. Technology outshone the rest with 1.06 percent upswing whereas basic materials slipped 0.50 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, financial services chalked the highest market share of 44.27 percent while real estate and telecommunication followed with 34.15 percent and 9.72 pct respectively. 

Agility was unchanged at KD 0.560 and Zain too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.800. The stock has added 20 fils from start of the month after shedding 60 fils in December. Wataniya Telecom 
tumbled 40 fils to KD 2.340 erasing the gains on Sunday. 

Combined Group Contracting Co dropped 20 fils to KD 1.420 and ALAFCO eased 5 fils to KD 0.355. Gulf Cables was down 20 fils at KD 1.280 and Kuwait Portland Cement Co followed suit to wind up at KD 1.100. The company has recorded a profit of KD 6,414,466 and earnings per share of 70.56 in the January-September period. 

The market opened weak and slipped into red in early trade. The index pulled back and hovered around the opening mark almost half way into the session before retreating over selling pressure in select counters. It hit the day's lowest level of 6,079.89 pts and clawed back most of the losses in the last 30 minutes.

Rallied
Top gainer of the day, Future Communications Co Global rallied 7.22 percent to KD 0.104 and Gulf Finance House climbed 6.94 pct to stand next. Real Estate Trade Centre Co (Marakez) dropped 6.17 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while Gulf Finance House also topped the volume with over 107 million. 
The market spread was almost evenly poised reflecting the day's mixed trend. 45 stocks advanced whereas 47 closed lower. Of the 138 counters active on Monday, 46 closed flat. 7373 deals worth KD 38.9 million were transacted -- a 3.63 percent rise in value from the day before.  Kuwait Pipes eased 4 fils to KD 0.114 and Kuwait Gulf Links was down by same measure with a volume of 1.55 million shares. ALAFCO fell 5 fils to KD 0.350 and Jazeera Airways followed suit to end at KD 0.325. The carrier has announced a 74 percent capital rise to KD 42 million which will help the firm to exchange its annual high-cost loans for lower-costing loans.
"The overall sentiment is very positive because of Q4 earnings, expectations of better dividends and political stability," Reuters quoted Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House on Sunday. "The market is trading above the psychological level of 6,000, and 6,050 was said to be the crossing point for institutions to start buying." 
On the positive side, National Industries Group rose 4 fils on back of 8.27 million shares after stagnating on Sunday and ACICO Industries Co ticked 2 fils higher. Burgan Well Drilling Co climbed 6 fils and Aref Energy Holding Co added 3 fils to end at 88 fils. 
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait gained 10 fils on back of 1.12 million shares and Gulf Bank held the ground steady at KD 0.410. Commercial Bank of Kuwait was not traded during the session. Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the global local and foreign-currency deposit ratings of CBK to 'A3/Prime-2' from 'A2/Prime-1'. 
Al Ahli Bank was unchanged at KD 0.580 whereas Ahli United bank shed 10 fils to close at KD 0.840. Kuwait International Bank stagnated at KD 0.300 while Burgan Bank rose 10 fils to KD 0.570. The stock has rallied 40 fils so far during the month. 
Boubyan Bank added 10 fil to end at KD 0.660 whereas Kuwait Finance House pulled 10 fils lower. The lender's net profit attributable to share holders in third quarter increased 7.2 percent year-on-year to KD 75.9 million and earnings per share chalked 26.64 fils. 

Flat
National Investment Co took in 2 fils while Securities House Co and International Finance Co were flat at 53 fils and 72 fils respectively. KIPCO gained 5 fils. The company has registered 0.4 percent year-on-year increase in profit to KD 23.7 million in the first nine months of 2012 while in Q3 it earned KD 6.6 million.
Kuwait Financial Centre Co (Markaz) climbed 4 fils whereas Al Maal Investment inched 1 fils lower after trading 3.54 million shares. KAMCO edged 2 fils higher and Noor Financial Investment Co stagnated at 64 fils. 
Al Tamdeen Investment took in 2 fils whereas Warba Insurance Co eased 2 fils. Standard and Poor's has affirmed the company's BBB' rating with stable outlook citing company's strong capitalization, good earnings, and good local competitive position. 
The bourse has been largely upbeat so far during the week and has added 39.08 pts in last 2 sessions. The index has rallied 172.63 points from start of the month after edging lower in December. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Al-Enmaa Real Estate Co has posted a net profit of KD 2,423,240 and earnings per share of 5.38 fils in the year ended 30 Oct 2012 as against profit of KD 1,102,311 and EPS of 2.45 fils in the year before period. The Board of Directors has recommended no dividend payout for the fiscal year. Boubyan Petrochemicals Co has posted a net profit of KD 100,301 and earnings per share of 0.21 fils in the six month period ending 31/10/2012 as compared net profit of KD 201,301 and earnings per share of 0.42 fils in the year before period. 

Global Investment House has chalked a net loss of KD 35.46 million and loss per share of 72 fils in the first nine months of 2012 as against loss of KD 54.22 million and LPS of 110 fils in the same period last year. 
Kuwait Real Estate has registered a net profit KD 1.733 million and EPS of 1.91 fils in the January-Sept period as against earnings of KD 877,467 and earnings per share of 0.97 fils in the same period last year.

© Arab Times 2013