(MENAFN - Arab Times) Kuwait stocks dropped further on Wednesday to wind up week on negative note. The index dropped 15.1 points in slightly volatile trade extending losses to fifth straight session. Selling pressure in select the blue chips and mid-priced stocks weighed whereas some of the banks posted gains after sagging on Tuesday. The trading floor remains skittish in absence of strong indicators to drive the market. The bourse wound up at 6,211.70 points trimming steeper loss earlier in the day, while volume turnover saw a feeble rebound after receding in the last four sessions. 84.63 million shares changed hands - up 9 percent from Tuesday. The volume has been anemic since the start of the month and has traded mostly below 100 million mark in second half of the month.
The prominent decliners include National Industries Group which fell 10 fils adding to the loss in the previous session. It ended at KD 0.228 and saw a volume turnover of 2.96 million. Kuwait Portland Cement slid 40 fils erasing the gains on Tuesday and wound up at KD 1.180. Agility slipped 5 fils to KD 0.325 whereas bourse heavyweight Zain held the ground steady at KD 1.040 after trading in red earlier in the day. The counter saw 1.59 million shares change hands. Zain's Iraqi unit is planning to launch an initial public offering on the Iraq Stock Exchange. Wataniya Telecom too was flat at KD 1.960 after posting moderate loss in the day before. The stock had shed 60 fils during May and is unchanged since start of the month.
United Gulf Bank dropped 20 fils to end at KD 0.285 whereas Kuwait Food Co was steady at KD 0.1560 . The company has recorded KD 15.9 million in Q1 profits and earnings per shares of 41 fils compared to KD 13.8 million and EPS of 35 fils per share in the same period last year.
The market opened weak and slipped sharply in early trade as investors exited some of the positions in end-of-week risk covering. The index drifted lower well past the mid-session amid weak sentiments and bottomed at 6184.8 points. It saw feeble claw back in the final minutes and pared the losses slightly at close.
Top gainer of the day, Real Estate Trade Centres Co climbed 7.4 percent to 72 fils while ACICO rose 5.5 percent to stand next. Gulf Finance House slid 8.3 percent, the steepest decliner of the day and the stock also topped the volume with 10.9 million shares.
The market spread was skewed towards the losers. 19 stocks advanced while 46 closed lower. Of the 97 counters active on Wednesday, 31 closed flat. 1760 deals worth KD 16.12 million were transacted - down 37 percent in value from the day before.
On the upside, National Bank of Kuwait rose 20 fils on back of 1.4 million shares and ended at KD 1.140 while Ahli United Bank was up 10 fils at KD 0.780. Burgan Bank gained 15 fils recouping the drop in the day before and closed at KD 0.510. The stock had eased 10 fils during May and is trading 30 fils lower from start of the month.
Kuwait Finance House added 10 fils with a volume of 1.26 million shares to settle at KD 1.000. The Islamic lender earlier in the week signed a deal with Gulf Investment House to restructure the KD 49.5 million it owes in debts. Boubyan Bank was unchanged at KD 0.600.
Gulf Bank stagnated at KD 0.540 recovering from slight loss earlier in the day whereas Commercial Bank and Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the day. ABK last month had won the Central Bank of Kuwait approval for the bank's extension request to buy back or sell up to 10% of its issued shares over a six-month period ending on Dec 12, 2011.
Kuwait Investment Co fell 2 fils to settle at KD 0.114 while International Financial Advisors inched 1 fils lower. International Finance Co added 6 fils extending an identical rise in the previous session.
The company has won Central Bank of Kuwait's approval its request to buy back up to 10% of its own issued shares for a six-month period.
Investment major KIPCO was flat at KD 0.365 and National Investment Co too did move in either direction. Global Invesment House ticked 0.5 fils up. The company has posted a net profit of KD 1,906,196 and earning per share 7.21 fils in the January-March period - higher than KD 1,281.849 and earning per share 4.87 fils in same period of 2010.
Bayan Investment stagnated at 30.5 whereas First Investment Co edged 2 fils higher. Al Maal Investment shed 5 fils and Tamdeen Investment Co was down 4 fils at KD 0.190.
National Real Estate Co slipped 1 fils to settle at KD 0.084 while Pearl of Kuwait Real Estate Co took in 1 fils on back of 2.24 million shares. Tamdeen Real Estate Co dropped 5 fils and Mabanee Co shed 10 fils.
Meanwhile Kuwait Stock Exchange has selected 15 firms for its new Kuwait 15 Index.
They are:- Mobile Telecommuni-cations Co (Zain), National Mobile Telecommunications (Wataniya), National Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait Finance House, Gulf Bank, Boubyan Bank, Ahli United Bank, Burgan Bank, Kuwait Projects Co Mabanee Co, Kuwait International Bank, Agility Public Warehousing Co, National Industries Group Holding, Gulf Cable & Electrical Industries Co, Boubyan Petrochemical Co. The list is to be reviewed every six months.
In the bourse related news, Bayan Investment Co. has incurred a net loss of KD 3,792,933 and loss per share of 10.61 fils in the three-month period ending March 31, 2011 as compared to a net loss of KD 1,862,004 and loss per share of 5.23 fils in the same period last year.
National Industries Group has registered a first quarter net profit of KD 1,941,000 and earning per share of 2 fils as compared to profit of KD 4,712,000 in same period last year.
