17 June 2015
Americana soars 60 fils; NBK flat

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait stocks retreated on Monday after eking modest gains in the previous session. The price index slipped 10.42 pts in choppy trade to 62,979 .76 points even as investors toed the sideline in absence of catalysts. The blue chips were mostly muted whereas the mid and small caps diverged on speculative trade.

The KSX 15 benchmark edged 1.04 points up to 1,025.77 pts taking the month's gains to 9 pts while weighted index eased 0.27 points. The volume turnover meanwhile sank below the 200 million mark for the first time during the month. 146.05 million shares changed hands -- a 32.25 pct drop from the day before.

The sectors closed mixed. Technology outshone the rest with 1.27 percent upswing whereas industrials shed 0.55 pct, the worst performer of the day. In terms of volume, real estate garnered the highest market share of 42.44 pct while financial services stood next with 40.19 percent. Industrial sector was a distant third with 4.16 pct contribution.

In the individual shares, Kout Food Group shed 20 fils while Safwan Trading and Contracting Co slid 25 fils to settle at KD 0.360. Humansoft Holding was down 10 fils at KD 0.840 and Boubyan Petrochemicals Co followed suit to close at KD 0.630.

Sector major, Zain was unchanged at KD 0.440 and Wataniya Telecommunication too held the ground unchanged at KD 1.240. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) gave up 10 fils to settle at KD 0.930 after trading over 1 million shares and Agility paused at KD 0.730 off early lows.

Added

Kuwait Foundry Co added 10 fils to end at 270 fils with a volume of 1.35 million and Kuwait Food Co (Americana) jumped 60 fils taking the month's gains to 140 fils. The company has posted a 4.3 percent fall in Q1 net profit which stood at KD 17.3 million, down from KD 18.1 million in the same period last year.

The market opened flat but slipped into red in early trade. The key index lost more ground to plumb the day's lowest level of 6,270.96 pts before bouncing back close to the opening mark.

It moved sideways as sentiment turned brittle and headed south again in the final minutes to close with moderate losses.

Top gainer of the day, Arkan Real Estate Co vaulted 10 pct to 110 fils and Massaleh Real Estate Co climbed over 6 pct to stand next.

Gulf Franchising Holding Co tumbled 11.4 pct, the steepest decliner of the day, and Al Dar National Real Estate Co topped the volume with over 26 million shares.

Mirroring the day's pullback, the losers outnumbered the winners. 34 stocks advanced whereas 48 closed lower. Of the 127 counters active on Monday, 45 closed flat. 3,324 deals worth KD 15.18 million were transacted -- a 27.99 percent drop in value from the day before.

National Industries Group, the flagship company of Kharafi Group, was unchanged at KD 0.170 after ticking lower in the last session and Gulf Cable followed suit to end at KD 0.570. Kuwait Portland Cement too held steady at KD 1.180. Shuaiba Industrial Co rose 10 fils to KD 0.415.

Jazeera Airways fell 10 fils to KD 0.470 and ALAFCO took in 2 fils to close at KD 0.216. The Energy House inched 1 fil up. The company has logged a net loss of KD 1.024 million and loss per share of 1.366 fils in the three months of the year ending March 31.

Equipment Holding and Mashaer Holding Co dialed up 2 fils each while Yiaco Medical Co climbed 6 fils to wind up at KD 0.126 with thin volume.

National Investment Co was flat at KD 0.128 and KIPCO followed suit. The company has posted a net profit of KD 12 million for the first three months of 2015 -- an increase of 17 per cent from the same period last year. Earnings per share grew by 24% to 8.84 fils from first quarter of last year.

Bayan Investment Co and Sokouk Holding Co inched 1 fil higher each while Osoul Investment was up 1 fil at 56 fils. Noor Financial Investment Co clipped 2 fils and Tamdeen Investment Co was down 5 fils at KD 0.335.

Profit

Al Deera Holding inched 1 fil  down whereas Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) dialed up 2 fils. The company has logged a net profit attributable to shareholders of KD 1.31 million for the quarter ending March 31, 2015 2014 and the earnings per share clocked 3 fils.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait and Gulf Bank were flat at KD 0.850 and KD 0.275 respectively whereas Ahli United Bank pulled 10 fils lower. Kuwait Finance House stagnated at KD 0.435 and Boubyan Bank followed suit. Commercial bank was not traded during the day.

Kuwait International Bank paused at KD 0.244 and Burgan Bank too held steady at KD 0.435. Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait fell fils. The bank has won the approval of Central Bank of Kuwait to extend its approval to buy back or sell a maximum of 10% of its shares for 6 months ending on Dec 10, 2015.

The bourse has been mixed so far during the week and is down 3 points in last two sessions. The price index has shed 13 points so far during the month and is trading 3.92 pct lower year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Gulf Insurance Group (GIG) has registered a net profit of KD 3.7 million or 20.86 fils per share, for the financial period ended March 31, 2015 -- an increase of 22.8 percent from the same period last year. Shareholder equity reached KD 82.5 million -- a growth of 3.7 percent.

Tamdeen Investment Co has recorded 18.5 pct rise in its earnings of the first quarter of 2015. It stood at KD 7.25 million compared to KD 6.12 million in the Q1 of 2014 while earnings per share came in at 25.75 fils.

Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co has posted a net profit KD 629,298 and earnings per share of 14.17 fils in the January March period of 2015 as against net profit of KD 281,177 and earnings per share of 6.33 fils in Q1 of 2014.

Sokouk Holding has clocked a net profit of KD 5.012 million and earnings per share of 9 fils in the year ending Dec 31, 2014 and the Board of Directors recommended 5 percent bonus shares.

Kuwait Foundry Co has logged a net profit of KD 2.26 million and earnings per share of 14.74 fils in the first nine-months of 2014, as against KD 2.13 million profit and earnings per share 13.9 fils in the 9M of 2013. Warba Bank has recorded a net profit of KD 115,000 and earnings per share of 0.12 fils in 2014, rebounding from net loss of KD 3.709 million and loss per share of 3.71 fils in 2013.

© Arab Times 2015