NBK Falls 20 Fils; Zain Bucks Trend

KUWAIT CITY, May 24:

Kuwait stocks pulled lower Thursday to end the week on a sour note. The index shed 27.56 points extending the losses to sixth straight session and wound up at 6,339.39 points. Select heavyweights weighed while the mid-caps closed mixed. The trading floor continues to roiled by bearish sentiment even as euro zone crisis dampened the regional markets.

The KSX 15 measure eased 5.44 points even as weighted index edged 2.06 points lower to 409.71. The volume turnover bounced back mostly due to brisk selling. 305.66 million shares changed hands -- a 45.4 percent surge from Wednesday. Meanwhile technology sector outshone peers with 160.46 point spike whereas financial services shed 10.61 points -- the biggest decliner of the day.
Wataniya Telecom dropped 20 fils extending the losses in the previous session while Agility was down 5 fils at KD 0.405. Zain bucked the trend to close 10 fils higher at KD 0.710. The stock has eased 15 fils from start of the month while year-to-date it is up 30 fils.

National Bank of Kuwait shed 20 fils after closing flat in the day before while Commercial Bank of Kuwait slid 30 fils. Gulf Bank pulled up from early lows to close unchanged at KD 0.410.
Among other decliners, Combined Group Contracting Co slid 40 fils while Kuwait Co For Process Plant Construction and Contracting dived 45 fils to end at KD 0.335. Kuwait Food Co (Americana) shed 20 fils after stagnating on Wednesday and United Foodstuff Industries Group Co dropped 35 fils to KD 0.265.
The market opened on a high note and edged higher in early trade. The index peaked at 6377.21 points but retreated sharply as selling dominated the trading floor. It drifted lower thereafter and hit the day's lowest mark of 6321.1 points in the final minutes before paring the losses slightly at close.

Spiked
Top gainer of the day, Al-Mowasat Healthcare Co spiked 35.71 percent to KD 0.228 while PAPCO climbed 8.33 percent to stand next. UFIG slid 11.67 percent, the worst performer of the day, whereas Gulf Finance House topped the volume with 98.26 million shares.
Reflecting the day's downswing, the losers widely outnumbered the gainers. 27 stocks advanced whereas 66 closed lower. Of the 130 counters active on Thursday, 36 closed flat. 4591 deals worth KD 25.13 million were transacted -- a 35.6 percent surge in value from day before.
On the flip side, Advanced Technology Co climbed 40 fils and Yiaco Medicals rose 25 fils to KD 0.420. National Industries Group edged 2 fils up to KD 0.224. 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.

In the banking sector, Ahli United Bank rose 10 fils to KD 0.90 whereas Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the day. The bank recorded a 30.1 percent year-on-year drop in first quarter net profit. Kuwait International Bank slipped 5 fils whereas Burgan Bank was unchanged at KD 0.415 off early lows.
Kuwait Finance House moved in a tight range before closing flat at KD 0.730. 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 stagnated at KD 0.610.

National Investment Co was steady at KD 0.130 and KIPCO followed suit to close at KD 0.325. The conglomerate has posted a net profit of KD 8.5 million in the first three months of 2012 while revenue rose 16 percent to KD 108.4 million.
Securities Group dropped 20 fils while International Financial Advisers inched 1.5 fils lower. International Finance Co fell 2 fils whereas Kuwait Financial Centre closed flat. Al Maal Investment Co was up 1 fils at 48.5 fils on back of 2.38 million shares.

Flat
Bayan Investment Co closed flat and KAMCO too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.250. The stock has added 40 fils from start of the month and is up 6 fils year-to-date. Tamdeen Investment Co stagnated at KD 0.168. Money Markets Authority has approved the company's request to buy back and sell up to 10% of own shares over six month period commencing May 15, 2012.
National Real Estate Co closed flat at KD 0.130 while Tamdeen Real Estate Co ticked 2 fils lower. The company has earned KD 2,216,894 in first quarter of 2012 while earnings per share clocked 6 fils.
The bourse has been negative during the week. It closed lower in all the five session and tumbled 89.7 points week-on-week. The index has shed 29.21 points from start of the month and is trading 9 percent higher year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Qurain Petrochemical Industries Co has registered net profit of KD 33,015,699 and earnings per share of 30.14 fils in the first three months of 2012 as against net loss of KD 1,901,883 and loss per share of 1.74 fils in the same period last year. The Board of Directors recommended a dividend payout of cash 15%.

Al Maal Investment has logged a first quarter net loss of KD 150,306 and loss per share of 0.28 fils as against KD 4,063,980 loss and 7.69 LPS in the 2011 Q1.
Tamdeen Real Estate has earned KD 2,216,894 in first quarter of 2012 while earnings per share clocked 6 fils. This compares with net profit of KD 1,718,908 and 4.6 fils EPS in 2011 Q1.
Noor Financial Investment signed an agreement with Kuwait Finance House to reschedule KD 44 million debt maturing in 2018 and represents 28% of the total debts. Earlier, Noor had rescheduled KD 73.5 million debts with Gulf Bank of Kuwait and Commercial Bank of Kuwait.
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.
Kuwait Cement Co. earned KD 5.127.218 in the first three month of 2012 even as earnings per share came in at 8.30 fils. This compared with net profit of KD 4.879.364 and earnings per share of 7.89 fils in the previous year.

© Arab Times 2012