KUWAIT: Kuwait shares continued to slide for the second consecutive session on the back of profit-booking and investors' awaiting for the second quarter financial announcements. Global General Index (GGI) was down by 2.07 points, (or 0.55 percent), to close at 374.89 points. Kuwait Stock Exchange Price Index dropped by 0.19 percent or 22.8 points and ended the day at 11,964.4 points. Market capitalization declined by 0.55 percent yesterday to reach KD55.07 billion.
Market breadth skewed towards the decliners as out of the 185 listed companies, 56 reported daily losses, while 40 witnessed gains and 89 stocks ended the day unchanged. Volume and value of shares traded on the exchange decreased yesterday as investors exchanged 329.30 million shares (-10.9 percent) at a total value of KD176.39 million (-23.46 percent). Investment sector accounted for 46.59 percent of total volume traded during yesterday's session, followed by real estate sector which accounted for 13.4 percent of total shares traded on the exchange.
Buying interest was seen on Iraq Holding Company as 40.16 million shares changing hands. The scrip ended yesterday's session, without a change, at 53fils. National International Company was the prominent gainer yesterday adding 8.77 percent to close at 310fils. On the other hand, Al-Mal Investment Company was the biggest loser for the day as it plunged by 5.68 percent to close at 415fils In terms of sector's performance, all ended the day on a negative note, except for the insurance sector and industrial sector, which marginally rose by 0.04 percent and 0.001 percent respectively. Global Food Index (GFI) was the biggest loser (-1.19 percent), as all stocks in the sector dipped, except for United Food Company that rose by 1.19 percent closing at 470fils.
Real estate sector followed as its index plunged by 1.13 percent as Tamdeen Real Estate Company and Ajial Real Estate and Entertainment company shed 3.7 percent each. From the sector's news, National Real Estate Company won a court case against the finance ministry over cancellation of two contracts. The first degree court annulled the finance ministry's decision to cancel the contracts of Al-Wataniya and Watiyah complex projects. The scrip closed at 580fils, without a change. Investment sector dropped by 0.98 percent as three of the sector's components came on the list of the top five losers; such as Kuwait Invest Company Holding, which gave up 5.45 percent to close at 520fils. In the same sector, Bayan Investment Co announced that it received offers from Gulf and other Arab investors to buy a majority stake in its fully owned ceramics plant in Ramadan 10 City, Egypt.
Company's stock ended the session at 320fils, without any change. Services sector declined by 0.88 percent as Mobile Telecommunication Company (MTC), which closed at KD4.840, declining by 1.63 percent. On the other hand, Agility soared by 2.37 percent, closing at KD1.540. Agility announced that its subsidiary ''Agility Project Logistics'' joined hands with Transcar Projects Ltd to win the global shipping contract for two phases of the Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) in Ras Laffan, Qatar. The Pearl GTL project, the world's largest gas-to-liquid project, has been developed by Qatar Petroleum and Shell and will involve over 1 million freight tons of cargo lined up for its construction. According to the company, the maximum period of the contract is 42 months and with a value of $180-220 million.
© Kuwait Times 2007
