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Kuwait Bourse Slips 3.54 Pts As Sentiment Dampens

Most Heavyweights Gain; Volume Swells
KUWAIT CITY, June 19
Kuwait stocks frittered early gains to close slightly lower on Tuesday as sentiments dampened following the suspension of the parliament for a month.
The index slipped 3.54 points in volatile trade to wind up at 5,945.08 points weighed by select mid-caps even as some of the heavyweights posted modest gains. KSE, which fell below the 6,000 mark last week, has closed lower in 5 of the last 6 sessions.
KSX 15 climbed 12.78 points while weighted index was up 3.78 points to settle at 399.47 points. The volume turnover rose for third consecutive day by 14.55 percent to 250.22 million. Among the sectors, Consumer Services outshone the rest with 1.65 percent gain whereas technology slipped 3.33 percent to emerge as the worst performer of the day. Financial Services accounted for 53.49 percent of total volume and real estate came next with 19.97 percent.
Among the losers, Automated Systems Co dropped 30 fils to KD 0.480 while Combined Group Contracting Co shed 20 fils. Gulf Cables fell 20 fils to KD 1.120 erasing the gains on Monday. Boubyan Petrochemicals Co slipped 10 fils and Kuwait Portland Cement followed suit. Hits Telecom ticked 2 fils lower.
Bourse heavyweight, Zain rose 10 fils on back of 1.9 million shares whereas Wataniya Telecom held the ground unchanged at KD 2.080 after vacillating moderate range. The stock, after hitting a record high of KD 2.480 in second half of April, has been on a retreating mode during the month.
Agility gained 10 fils after stagnating on Monday. It wound up at KD 0.380 with a trading volume of 0.65 million shares. Kuwait Gulf Links held the ground unchanged at 93 fils. The company has incurred KD 1.986 million losses or 7.52 fils loss per share in Q1, narrowing from KD 4.639 million or 17.56 fils LPS in same period last year.
Added
Kuwait Pipes rose 2 fils and National Industries Group added 4 fils on back of 1.06 million shares. NIG has incurred net losses of KD 28.76 million for 2011 - almost a 50% year-on-year jump from KD 19.2 million while loss per share rose to 23 fils from 8 fils. Kuwait Cement Co was flat at KD 0.870 and National Industries Company was up 5 fils at KD 0.290.
The market opened positive and climbed higher in early trade. The index crested at 5972.8 points and retreated thereafter as sentiments dampened. It drifted lower to hit the day's lowest level of 5,926.89 points and moved sideways in the second half. The bourse however ticked higher to pare the losses slightly at close.
Top gainer of the day, KSHC jumped 9.26 percent to 100 fils while Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Co climbed 8.77 percent to stand next. KMEFIC slid over 9 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Gulf Finance House topped the volume with 48.99 million shares.
Despite the day's gain, the winners outled the losers. 48 stocks advanced whereas 38 closed lower. Of the 118 counters active on Tuesday, 32 closed flat. 4527 deals worth KD 18.7 million were transacted -- down 4.53 percent in value from the day before.
On the upside, Kuwait Food Co (Americana) climbed 20 fils recouping the loss in the previous session. Jazeera Airways added 10 fils and IFA Hotels and Resorts gained 15 fils. In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait climbed 20 fils to KD 1.040 while Gulf Bank added 5 fils on back of 1.4 million shares. The stock is unchanged from start of the month while year-to-date, it has erased 95 fils. Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the day.
Burgan Bank traded in a narrow range before closing flat at KD 0.420 while Commercial Bank was up 10 fls at KD 0.770. The lender net profit dropped 75-percent drop in first-quarter from the previous quarter to KD 329,000.
Stagnated
Ahli United Bank stagnated at KD 0.890 while Kuwait Finance House moved range bound before settling unchanged at KD 0.700. KFH has recorded net profit of KD 20 million in the first quarter, a 11.5 per cent fall from the year earlier period. Boubyan Bank rose 10 fils to KD 0.630.
Investment major KIPCO gained 5 fils and National Investment Co closed flat at KD 0.104. International Financial Advisors inched 0.5 fils higher on back of 3.1 million shares. IFA has posted first quarter loss of KD 4.7 million or loss per share of 7.09 fils and during whole of 2011, it lost KD 20.4 million.
First Investment Co slipped 5 fils while Al Maal Investment Co pulled 5 fils lower after trading 2.2 million shares. KAMCO dropped 10 fils. The company has recorded a net profit of KD 0.40 million and earnings-per-share of 1.68 fils in January-March quarter while total revenues came in at KD 2.61 million.
Bayan Investment Co ticked 1 fils higher and Securities Group Co was unchanged at KD 0.114. The company has logged net profit of KD 815.478 and earnings per share of 3.20 fils in the first quarter as against.
National Real Estate Co rose 4 fils while Mabanee Co gained 20 fils. The company's first quarter net profit rose to KD 6,017,316 from KD 5,776,462 in the year before while earning per shares came in at 9.9 fils.
The bourse had been mixed so far during the week and has gained 37.35 points in the last two sessions. It has tumbled 248.74 points from start of the month and is trading 2.65 percent higher year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Noor Financial Investment Co has posted a net loss of KD 15,153,392 and loss per share of 21 fils in the first quarter as against net loss of KD 30,623,757 and loss per share same of 42 fils in the same period last year.
Al Madina for Finance and Investment Co has incurred a Q1 net loss of KD 585,684 and loss per share Fils 1.52 and net loss of KD 429,972 and loss per share of 1.12 fils in 2011 first quarter.
KSE has suspended 31 listed companies from trading for failing to publish their financial results in stipulated time. The majority of the suspended firms where in the investment sector.
National Petroleum Services logged net profit of KD 392,730 and earnings per share of 7.48 fils in the January-February period - down from KD 725,806 and 13.83 fils in the year before.

© Arab Times 2012

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