Wataniya Telecom falls 20 fils; NIG slips 6 fils

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 3: Kuwait stocks eased further Tuesday extending the decline from the previous session. The index shed 10.8 points in choppy trade weighed by select blue chips and some of the mid-caps even as investors continued to exit positions amid weak sentiment.

The bourse wound up at 5,780.90 points after trading deeper in red earlier in the session while weighted index edged 1.39 points lower to 401.13. The volume turnover pulled back after slipping below the 100 million mark on Monday. 100.62 million shares changed hands - up 35.9 percent from the day before. KSE has eked a marginal 0.04 percent gain in whole of December as investors remained wary owing to the political developments.

Market heavyweight Zain dropped 10 fils adding to an identical fall on Monday. It closed at KD 0.880 and saw a volume turnover of 1.73 million shares. Agility rose 5 fils to KD 0.375. The stock had eased 10 fils during December but has dropped 145 fils during whole of 2011.

Wataniya Telecom was down 20 fils at KD 1.920 after stagnating on Monday whereas Kuwait Gulf Links ticked 2 fils higher. Kuwait Food Co dropped 20 fils whereas IFA Hotels and Resorts dived 50 fils to KD 0.425.

Among other notable decliners, National Industries Group pulled 6 fils lower after trading 5.46 million shares. Kuwait Portland Cement fell 10 fils and ACICO followed suit to end at KD 0.210. Gulf Cables however bucked the market trend to gain 20 fils and United Gulf Bank rose 6 fils to close at KD 0.194.

Slipped
Gulf Bank slipped 5 fils extending the decline from the day before whereas sector bellwether National Bank of Kuwait held the ground unchanged at KD 1.100. Standard & Poor's earlier in December has upgraded Gulf Bank's long-term credit rating of BBB- to BBB, and raised the Bank's outlook from stable to positive.

The market opened flat and moved sideways in early trade. The index eased gradually as sentiments weakened and hit the day's lowest level of 5765.6 points in the final minutes. However it ticked up and managed to slightly trim the losses at close.

Top gainer of the day, Al Salam Group Holding climbed over 9 percent to KD 0.108 while Arkan Al Kuwait Real Estate rose 6.8 percent to stand next. IFA Hotels and Resorts slid 10.52 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while Hits Telecom topped the volume with 13.4 million shares.

Mirroring the day's decline, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 33 stocks advanced while 35 closed lower. Of the 96 counters active on Tuesday, 27 closed flat. 1720 deals worth KD 12.77 million shares were transacted - down 8.8 percent from Monday.

In the banking sector, Ahli United Bank rose 10 fils whereas Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank were not traded during the day. Kuwait International Bank fell 5 fils and Burgan Bank closed flat at KD 0.470. The stock had gained 10 fils in December but has shed 55 fils during whole of 2011.

Kuwait Finance House was unchanged at KD 0.890. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has affirmed its 'A-/A-2' long-and short-term credit ratings the lender and has maintained a Stable outlook. Boubyan Bank was flat at KD 0.590.

National Investment Co rose 2 fils on back of 1.82 million shares whereas KIPCO stagnated at KD 0.300. Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) eased 2 fils and First Investment Co too was down by the same measure. Al Maal Investment Co inched 1 fils higher whereas Al Deera Holding ticked 1 fils lower. Tamdeen Investment Co gained 4 fils to close at KD 0.234.

National Real Estate Co fell 2 fils whereas Tamdeen Real Estate Co added 4 fils. The company has posted a 5.4% rise in net earnings to KD 3.9 million during the first nine months of 2011. Mabanee Co dropped 10 fils and Mazaya Holding was up 1 fils.

Fell
Jazeera Airways fell 5 fils extending the loss on Monday while ALAFCO closed flat at KD 0.310. Combined Group Contracting Co shed 20 fils and Egypt Kuwait Holding Co was down 5 fils.

The bourse has trending lower from the start of the new year and has shed 33.3 pts so far during the week. It had gained a meager 2.6 points during December and has shed 17 percent during whole of 2011. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, KSE listed companies have logged a 3.2 percent decline in third quarter profit to hit KD 923 million, according to Al Joman Center for Economic Consultancy. Investment sector, the biggest decliner, saw a 98 percent drop in earnings followed by the real estate sector which eroded 19 percent.

Al Safat Real Estate Co has posted a net loss of KD 1,435,068 and l oss per share of 5.98 fils in the first nine-months of the year as compared to a net loss of KD 745,249 and loss per share of 3.11 fils in the same period last year.

Al Aman Investment Co has posted a net loss of KD 1,581,185 and loss per share 3.3 fils in the nine-month period ending Sep 30. This compares with net profit of KD 738,187 and earnings per share of 1.5 fils in the same period last year.

The third quarter profit of the KSE listed companies have fallen by 3.2 percent to hit KD 923 million, according to Al Joman Center for Economic Consultancy. This compares with KD 965 million for the same period last year. Investment sector was the worst performer logging 98 percent drop followed by the real estate sector which slumped by 19 percent.

Kuwait bourse authorities have halted trading in Global Investment House saying its accumulated losses to the end of September had exceeded 75 percent of its capital, contravening market rules.

Global has logged a net loss of KD 54,224,000 and loss per share of 44 fils in the nine-months period ending September 2011 as against net loss of KD 46,241,000 and loss per share of 38 fils in the same period last year.

International Finance Co has posted net loss of KD 4,609,831 and loss per share of 7.42 fils in the first six months of the year as against net loss of KD 3,654,802 and loss per share of 7.86 fils in the same period last year.

© Arab Times 2012