(MENAFN- Arab Times) Kuwait stocks kicked off the month with moderate losses as it continued to its downward spiral from August. The bourse shed 22.79 points in volatile trade weighed further weakness in oil prices. The decline was paced by select mid and small caps even as ome of the banks eked slight gains.
The KSX 15 benchmark rose 3.97 pts to 923.13 points taking year's losses to 138 points while weighted index inched 021 pts higher. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank further as investors remain wary of the market's outlook. 132.71 million shares changed hands - a 20.7 percent drop from Sunday.
The sectors closed mostly in the red turf. Consumer goods outshone the rest with 1.11 pct gain whereas oil and gas shed 1.37 pct, the biggest loser of the day. In terms of volume, real estate clocked the highest market share of 56.68 pct whereas financial services and industrials trailed far behind with 14.37 pct and 8.72 percent contributions respectively.
In the individual shares, KIPCO extended its losses with a 10 fils drop to close at KD 0.590 and Kuwait Financial Centre was up 4 fils at 98 fils. Banking major National Bank of Kuwait and Kuwait Finance House added 10 fils each to wind up at KD 0.790 and KD 0.590 respectively while Kuwait Food Co (Americana) rebounded 80 fils.
Zain eased 5 fils to KD 0.365 with a volume of 2.55 million shares and Wataniya Telecom (Ooredoo) skidded 40 fils extending an identical loss in the last session. Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA) climbed 10 fils and Agility pulled 10 fils lower to KD 0.580 taking the year's decline to 160 fils.
Kuwait Investment Co rose 4 fils to KD 0.108 and National Investments Company clipped 2 fils. The company has recorded a net profit of KD 3.80 million and earnings per share of 4.46 fils in the January-June period of 2015 as compared to KD 2.25 million profit and earnings per share of 2.63 fils in the first of last year.
The market opened weak but edged up in early trade. The price index slipped briefly but managed to claw back into the green zone and hit the day's highest level of 5,827.49 pts. It moved sideways for over an hour and headed south to plumb the day's lowest mark 5,789.48 pts as sentiment turned negative before paring back some the losses at close.
Top gainer of the day, YIACO Medical Co vaulted 7.94 pct to 136 fils while Hilal Cement Co jumped 7.69 percent to stand next. Ikarus Petroleum Industries Co tumbled 8.93 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Dar National Real Estate Co topped the volume with 47.8 million shares.
Mirroring the day's downswing, the losers outnumbered the gainers. 38 stocks advanced whereas 57 closed lower. Of the 124 counters active on Tuesday, 29 closed flat. 3372 deals worth KD 12.45 million were transacted - a 21.63 pct drop in value from the day before.
Flat
National Industries Group, the flagship company of Kharafi Group was flat at KD 0.150 whereas Kuwait Cement Co and RISCO tumbled 25 fils each to close at KD 0.360 and KD 0.350 respectively. Gulf Cable gave up 10 fils and Boubyan Petrochemicals Co held steady at KD 0.495. NICBM rose 6 fils whereas Equipment Holding Co dialed down 2 fils to settle at 62 fils. The company has incurred a net loss of KD 494,362 loss per share 3.62 fils as compared to net rofit same of KD 496,880 and earnings per share of 3.64 fils in 2014, H1.
Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co held steady at 46 fils and KGL Logistics Company inched 1 fils down. The company has posted a net profit of KD 3.49 million and earnings per share of 5.82 fils in the first half of 2015, up from net profit of KD 2.73 million and earnings per share of 5.06 fils in the same period last year.
Jazeera Airways climbed 10 fils to KD 0.455 whereas ALAFCO gave up 4 fils to end at KD 0.218. Zima Holding was up 6 fils at KD 0.156 while Mezzan Holding and United Projects Co gained 10 fils each.
The Energy House fell 3 fils to 50 fils and Al Nawadi dialed down 3 fils to end at 86 fils. Humansoft Holding sank 40 fils and City Group Company gave up 5 fils.
In the banking sector, Gulf Bank was flat at KD 0.270 and Boubyan Bank dropped 10 fils. The bank has posted a net profit of KD 16.03 million and earnings per share of 7.78 fils in the first half of 2015.
Ahli United Bank and Commercial Bank of Kuwait paused at KD 0.530 and KD 0.530 and KD 0.550 respectively and Burgan Bank too did not budge from its earlier close of KD 0.395. Kuwait International Bank dialed up 2 fils and Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.
Al Aman Investment Co and Gulf Investment House clipped 2 fils each whereas Bayan Investment Co closed unchanged At 37 fils. Al Ahleia Insurance Co dived 25 fils to KD 0.395. KMEFIC inched 1 fils up whereas Al Mal eased 1 fils to close at 35 fils.
The bourse was has been trending lower so far during the week and has skidded 78 points in last three sessions. It had tumbled 567 points during whole of August and is trading 11.29 pct lower year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Kuwait Real Estate Company has registered a net profit of KD 2.39 million and earnings per share of 2.64 fils in the first six-months of 2015 as against net profit of KD 3.49 million and earnings per share same of 3.86 fils in the same period last year. Gulf Cement Company has posted a net profit of KD 2.45 million and earnings per share of 0.003 fils in the first half of 2015, down from KD 3.36 million net profit and earnings per share of 0.004 fils in the same period last year.
Al Dar National Real Estate Co has incurred a net loss of KD 132,850 and loss per share of 0.32 fils in the six-month period ending June 30, 2015 as against net profit of KD 761,352 and earnings per share of 1.85 fils in the same period of 2014.
Metal and Recycling Co has incurred a net loss of KD 126,449 and losses per share of 2.48 fils in the January-June period of 2015 as compared to net profit of KD 615,409 and earnings per share of 6.76 fils in 2104, H1.
Kuwait National Cinema Company has clocked a net profit of KD 5.98 million and earnings per share of 62.65 fils in the six-months period ending June 30,215 as against net profit of KD 5.10 million and earnings per share of 51.48 fils in the first half of 2014.
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