(MENAFN- Arab Times) Kuwait stocks sagged on Sunday as the downtrend continued from the previous week. The stocks shed 11.49 pts to 6200.24 points in slightly volatile session weighed by some of the banking and financial shares. The market mood remained cautious even as the investors digested the news of the bomb blast in a Kuwait mosque on Friday.
The KSX 15 gauge eased 2.17 pts to 1,021.67 points shrinking the month's gains to 5 points while weighted index inched 1.29 points down. The volume turnover meanwhile was almost flat after rising in the last session. 98.9 million shares changed hands € a 0.18 pct fall from Thursday.
The sectors closed mixed during the session. Parallel market outshone the rest with 2.33 pct gain while consumer goods shed 1.38 percent, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, financial services accounted for the highest market share of 49.15 pct while real estate came next with 26.65 percent.
Among the individual shares, National Bank of Kuwait slipped 10 fils to KD 0.860 after trading 1.6 million shares and Ahli United Bank was down by same measure. Kuwait Finance House bucked the trend to gain 10 fils on back of 1.8 million shares and is trading 70 fils down from start of the year.
Steady
Bourse heavyweight Zain rose 5 fils on back of 1.6 million shares whereas Wataniya Telecom slid 40 fils to KD 1.180 after stagnating in the day before. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) held the ground steady at KD 0.930 and logistics major Agility added 10 fils to end at KD 0.730.
Mezzan Holding Co shed 20 fils while Kuwait Food Co (Americana) dipped 80 fils to KD 2.680. The company has posted a 4.3 percent fall in Q1 net profit. It stood at KD 17.3 million, down from KD 18.1 million in the same period last year.
The market opened weak and pulled lower in early trading . The main index continued to lose ground as sentiment turned weak. It hit the day's lowest level of 6,165.22 points before nudging up amid slight uptick in bargain buying in select counters. It however sagged again and wound up below the red.
Top gainers of the day, Contracting and Marine Services Co vaulted 9.26 percent to KD 0.765 and Amar Financing and Leasing Co followed suit. Al Madina For Finance and Investment Co dropped 7.4 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and the counter also topped the volume with 19.97 million shares.
Mirroring the day's downswing, the market spread was skewed towards the losers. 27 stocks advanced while 51 closed lower. Of the 118 counters active on Sunday, 40 closed flat. 2424 deals worth KD 12.8 million were transacted € a 11.43 pct drop in value from the day before.
National Industries Group was flat at KD 0.168 and while Gulf Cable was up 10 fils at KD 0.580. Kuwait Foundry Co slipped 10 fils to end at KD 0.265 and Boubyan Petrochemicals Co closed 10 fils higher. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co gave up 4 fils to wind up at KD 0.126.
Equipment Holding Co was steady at 72 fils and Gulf Glass Manufacturing Co soared 50 fils. The company 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.
ALAFCO was flat at KD 0.790 and Jazeera Airways followed suit. The airline has posted a net profit of KD 3 million in the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 44.6% from the same quarter last year. ALAFCO was unchanged at KD 0.218.
Combined Group Contarcting Co shed 20 fils while Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co and The Energy House eased 1 fils each. Mashaer Holding Co gave up 4 fils while Safwan Trading and Contracting Co was down 10 fils. Zima Holding pulled 5 fils up.
National Investment Co was unchanged at KD M 0.124 and KIPCO slipped 10 fils to close at KD 0.630. 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.
Securities House Co took in 2 fils and Kuwait Financial House Co (Markaz) dialed 4 fils down. Bayan Investment Co inched 0.5 fils down while Osoul Investment Co dialed up 3 fils.
Unchanged
Sokouk Holding ticked 2 fils down and Noor Financial Investment Co rose 3 fils to 100 fils. National Real Estate Co was unchanged at 96 fils whereas Mabanee Co shed 10 fils. Real Estate Asset Management Co closed 6 fils lower.
In the banking sector, Kuwait International Bank and Burgan Bank were flat at KD 0.242 and KD 425 respectively whereas Boubyan Bank gave up 5 fils. Gulf bank paused at KD 0.270.
The bourse was downbeat during last week. It closed lower in four of the five sessions and dropped 26 points week-on-week. It has slid 92 points so far during the month and is 5.13 pct lower year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Boubyan Petrochemicals Co. has won the approval of Capital Markets Authority to buy back or sell a maximum of 10% of its shares for 6 months.
Aqar Real Estate Investments Co. has got the nod of Capital Markets Authority for its request to buy back or sell up to 10% of own shares over a period of 6 months.
Privatization Holding Co. has received the approval of Capital Markets Authority for its request to buy back or sell up to 10% of own shares over a period of 6 months.
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 grew 3.7 pct to KD 82.5 million.
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.
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.
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